On our second day in Newcastle, we took a day trip to Durham.
Durham is a small town of 40 – 50 000, about 20km from Newcastle. It has a big cathedral, a castle of its own (but its not a new castle), and many shopping malls. It also apparently has a hospital and a university.
The cathedral was quite nice. My favorite part was the Tomb of St Bede, that had a sculpture with some very interesting typography on it.
Here is a set of very good quality photos of the cathedral.
While we were in town I helped a few of the locals with a funeral. Luckily I was dressed for the part.
Parts of the downtown were quite nice, with narrow streets and stairs going down to the river which winds through the main part of town.

I thought I should leave the first comment on your site. We went to Durham (to see NZ vs Eng at cricket) and I agree the St Bede tomb is good. They all speak weird though (more than usual for England)