Editing Durham, England (section)

===18th century===
In the 18th century a plan to turn Durham into a seaport through the digging of a canal north to join the [[River Team]], a tributary of the [[River Tyne]] near [[Gateshead]], was proposed by [[John Smeaton]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hadfield |first1=Charles |title=The civil engineering of canals and railways before 1850 |chapter=Rivers and canals |date=1997 |pages=49–79 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315240633-3 |isbn=9781315240633 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315240633-3/rivers-canals-charles-hadfield |access-date=11 October 2021}}</ref> Nothing came of the plan, but the statue of Neptune in the Market Place was a constant reminder of Durham's maritime possibilities.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.northeastengland.talktalk.net/DurhamCityMarketPlace.htm | title= Market Place, Silver Street and Saddler Street (Durham City) | last= Simpson | first= David | access-date= 23 July 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090209033447/http://www.northeastengland.talktalk.net/DurhamCityMarketPlace.htm | archive-date= 9 February 2009 | url-status= dead | quote = Neptune, God of the sea, symbolised an ambitious plan to turn Durham into an inland sea port by altering the course of the River Wear. In 1720 the plan was to construct a canal north to join the Team, a Tyne tributary near Gateshead. }}</ref>

The thought of ships docking at the Sands or Millburngate remained fresh in the minds of Durham [[merchant]]s. In 1758, a new proposal hoped to make the Wear navigable from Durham to [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]] by altering the river's course, but the increasing size of ships made this impractical. Moreover, Sunderland had grown as the north east's main port and centre for shipping.<ref>Blake, D. (1998) ''The North East''.</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2021}}

In 1787, the Durham infirmary was founded.<ref name="Archived copy"/>

The 18th century also saw the rise of the [[trade-union]] movement in the city.