Shincliffe is one of the North East's most charming villages and its proximity to Durham City makes this village and its more recent neighbour at High Shincliffe two of the most sought after places to live.

Shincliffe began life as the 'Cliff of Ghosts', while neighbouring High Shincliffe on the top of the bank consists of more recent housing developments. High Shincliffe rose from the ashes of a former mining settlement called Shincliffe Bank Top that was empty by the end of the nineteenth century.

The setting of old Shincliffe Village is almost as intriguing as its name. It is the main settlement in a bowl of fertile riverside land that forms an ancient plain surrounded by rolling hills. Around Shincliffe woods extend south to Butterby, a fortified medieval farm house with its own moat, from which the chain mail of a long forgotten knight was recovered in the 19th century.

Shincliffe's other neighbours include the medieval Sherburn Hospital and a now lost Roman site called Old Durham, both to the east. A Roman Road skirts the edge of the two Shincliffes and to the north lies the ancient hill fort of Maiden Castle. This whole view is crowned by the central tower of Durham Cathedral that peers over the wooded hills.

North-west of Shincliffe is Houghall, site of an agricultural college and on occasions one of the coldest spots in Britain, being the home of a peculiar weather phenomena called a 'frost hollow'. On certain days drivers and walkers may experience a sudden drop in temperature as they pass along the neighbouring road.

Perhaps these intriguing features explain Shincliffe's ancient name. Early spellings like 'Scinneclif point to the meaning 'haunted bank', since the Anglo-Saxon word 'Scinna' meant 'phantom or spectre'. In truth nobody knows why Shincliffe was associated with ghosts but it may be worth noting that in the thirteenth century Shincliffe Wood was described as "the wood extending from Schynclyve to Trollesden". The second place name is a medieval interpretation of Trellsden an old name for Tursdale, about two and half miles south of Shincliffe. A superstitious association between ghosts and trolls is however far too irresistible to ignore.

Since medieval times Shincliffe has had a close relationship with the City of Durham and particularly the priory of Durham Cathedral. In 1085, Bishop William St Carileph, the builder of Durham Cathedral gave 'Syneclive', as it was then called, to the Prior and Convent of Durham.

The village seems to have been a focus for tensions between the bishops and priors in later years. In 1305, a prior claimed that one of the bishop's servants stole a horse from his Shincliffe stables and took it to Durham Castle without paying. Five years earlier, the bishop's guards attacked the prior as he crossed Shincliffe Bridge. It was only after King Edward I intervened that tensions cooled.

The association between Shincliffe and the cathedral continues with the cathedral's administrative body, the Dean and Chapter, still owning land in the neighbourhood.

A large tract of land north of the village was historically a park belonging to the Priors of Durham.

It was first mentioned in the thirteenth century but not enclosed until 1355. It extended to the river and bordered the main road near Shincliffe Bridge. Alongside Mill Lane - the main road from Shincliffe to Sherburn Hospital - there is still a small wooded area called Shincliffe Park.

Of fundamental importance to Shincliffe is its bridge. The Romans may have crossed the Wear near here but the exact course of the road although easily traced across County Durham from Tees to Tyne is unknown between Shincliffe and Chester-le-Street.

The first medieval bridge at Shincliffe was in existence at least as early as 1200 and repairs were undertaken during the 1300s. However the bridge was in an irrecoverably ruinous state by the end of the 14th century, despite the fact that revenue from certain lands was set aside specifically for the upkeep of the bridge.

The situation prompted Bishop Hatfield, in 1370, and Bishop Fordham, in 1385, to launch inquiries into the maintenance of the bridge. It seemed that revenues were misapplied or embezzled, but no further action was taken.

It was eventually left to a later bishop, Walter Skirlaw, to replace the bridge at his own cost around 1400. Skirlaw could be described as Durham's 'Bishop of Bridges' as he was also responsible for the construction of Yarm and Croft Bridges on the Tees in the south of the county. His bridge at Shincliffe lasted intact for three and half centuries.

In 1752 two northern arches of the bridge were swept away during floods. Repairs were undertaken but, by the early 19th Century, the bridge was once again in need of attention.

The Durham architect and County Surveyor, Ignatius Bonomi, believed that the old bridge was too narrow for its purpose and decided that a new bridge should be built on the Wear a few hundred yards to the east of the old bridge. Bonomi's bridge opened in 1826. The old bridge was removed.

Although Shincliffe Bridge has been widened, it is still in use today, standing as a symbol of the link between Shincliffe and Durham.