Mountjoy

Mountjoy or Mount Joy is an escarpment above the valley of the River Wear approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) southeast of the city of Durham, England, rising to a height of slightly over 100 metres (330 ft). Its name comes from medieval pilgrims travelling to Durham Cathedral, who would get their first close view of the cathedral after climbing the southern scarp face. Modern pilgrims continue to use this route, and the view from the top of Mountjoy is one of the key viewpoints of the Durham Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site. The site is also associated with legends of the arrival of St Cuthbert's body in Durham. Archaeology has identified a Bronze Age enclosure, a possible Neolithic or Bronze Age settlement, and Iron Age and Romano-British field systems on Mountjoy. The hill has a variety of land uses, with academic buildings – including some award-winning and controversial 21st-century designs – on Durham University's Upper Mountjoy and Lower Mountjoy sites on the gentle northern slopes, containing all of the departments in the university's faculty of science and most of the departments in the faculty of social science and health. Two of the university's residential colleges are built on Buck's Hill, on the western side of Mountjoy. The scarp slopes are covered by ancient woodland, while the university's botanic garden, locally listed as a historic park, lies in a valley on the southwest side of the hill. The woodland and the undeveloped eastern part of Mountjoy are part of the Hollingside, Mountjoy and Whinney Hill area of high landscape value and form part of the Durham City Green Belt.