Key dates
- 687 - St Cuthbert dies (now buried in Durham Cathedral).
- 715-720 - Lindisfarne Gospels made.
- 735 - Bede dies (later buried in Durham Cathedral).
- 995 - St Cuthbert's Community builds the first Durham Cathedral.
- 1072 - Building of Durham Castle begins (now the oldest university building in the world).
- 1095-1130 - Durham Cathedral built.
- 1286 - Durham Hall, later Durham College, founded in Oxford by and for Durham. In 1555, becomes Trinity College, Oxford.
- 1541 - Henry VIII proposes founding a Northern university in Durham.
- 1657 - Oliver Cromwell grants Letters Patent to give Durham degree awarding powers - blocked by Oxford and Cambridge universities.
- 1669 - Bishop Cosin's Library endowed as a public lending library.
- 1832 - Establishment of the University of Durham by Act of Parliament, gaining royal assent on 4 July.
- 1832 - University College was founded.
- 1834 - Medical education established in Newcastle, King's College Newcastle becoming part of Durham University.
- 1834 - Durham Regatta founded, three years before Henley, making it the first and oldest regatta.
- 1837 - Royal Charter granted to the University by King William IV on 1 June.
- 1837 - Durham Castle handed over to the University.
- 1837 - First degrees conferred.
- 1838 - First university to offer civil and mining engineering degrees to meet national need.
- 1839 - College of St Hild and St Bede was founded.
- 1846 - Hatfield College was founded.
- 1875 and 1876 - The first overseas campuses, in Barbados and Sierra Leone.
- 1877 - Durham University Boat club founded (now the leading university boat club in the UK, and UK champions for the past seven years).
- 1888 - St Cuthbert's Society was founded.
- 1895 - Royal Charter granted to allow degrees to be given to women.
- 1899 - St Mary's College was founded.
- 1904 - St Chad's College was founded.
- 1908 - George Kitchin, Warden since 1894, becomes the first Chancellor.
- 1909 - Durham University divided into two Divisions, the Durham and Newcastle Divisions.
- 1909 - St John's College was founded.
- 1947 - St Aidan's College was founded.
- 1959 - Grey College was founded.
- 1963 - Durham University's King's College becomes the independent University of Newcastle.
- 1965 - Van Mildert College was founded.
- 1966 - Trevelyan College was founded.
- 1972 - Collingwood College was founded.
- 1977 - Durham University wins University Challenge.
- 1987 - Durham Cathedral and Castle become a World Heritage Site.
- 1992 - NetPark - Durham's innovative science park - established at Sedgefield, Co. Durham.
- 1992 - Sir Peter Ustinov is installed as the University's tenth Chancellor.
- 1994 - University College, Stockton-on-Tees becomes a college of the University of Durham.
- 2000 - Durham University wins University Challenge (for the second time).
- 2001 - John Snow College and George Stephenson College were founded at the Stockton Campus.
- 2002 - The Stockton Campus becomes Queen's Campus in recognition of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee and the tenth anniversary of the Campus.
- 2005 - Durham University named Sunday Times University of the Year.
- 2005 - Bill Bryson becomes the University's 11th Chancellor.
- 2006 - Josephine Butler College was founded.
- 2007 - Professor Chris Higgins becomes the 23rd Vice-Chancellor and Warden.
- 2012 - Sir Thomas Allen becomes the University's 12th Chancellor.
- 2012 - Durham University joins the Russell Group.