Durham, Cambridge, and York are the most festive cities in the UK – according to an analysis of more than 70 million historical newspaper pages. Researchers found Durham featured in the highest number of articles about Christmas, between 1861 and 2021.

The North East city’s cathedral is a key factor to it coming top, having had a central role in celebrations for centuries. A specific kind of music, called “verse anthem”, was played during services at Christmas, from as early as the 17th century to the present day, the analysis found.

Jen Baldwin, research specialist at Findmypast, the family history site which pored through the papers, said: “Christmas has always been a time of celebration for families across the country, and it’s fascinating to see how the excitement around the festive period builds in varying cities.

“This Christmas, I’d encourage everyone to discover their own family and community stories hiding in these pages. From pantomime dames to festive mishaps, you might even discover some surprising stories from your own family tree, right there in black and white.”

Durham is also home to Lumiere, a biennial light festival taking place in November. Starting in 2009, Lumiere is now the UK’s biggest light festival, and hosts a number of light art-installations, illuminating buildings and locations across the city – including the historic Cathedral.

An estimated 140,000 people attended the last event in 2021, with community involvement from 685 individuals.

Cambridge and York rounded out the top three most festive cities, with musical tradition also crucial to Cambridge’s Christmassy reputation.

The annual Carols from King’s College have been broadcast on Christmas Eve since 1954 – becoming a tradition to watch, even for those outside of the city. Meanwhile, York’s winter celebrations date back all the way to Viking and Roman solstice ceremonies.

To avoid the largest cities coming top due to more festive events happening, the mentions of “Christmas” were weighted against the cities’ average population. This resulted in Durham having one mention of Christmas per person, on average – higher than anywhere else.

The data also found that Christmas really is getting earlier each year. Since 1980, the number of “Christmas” mentions in November have almost trebled, compared to the more than 100 years before.

Similarly, mentions of other Christmas favourites boomed, too – with the phrase “mince pie” 15 times more likely to be mentioned in November, and more than 10 times more likely to be spotted in October in recent decades.

This reflects current food shopping trends, that see shops like Waitrose previewing their Christmas food as early as July.

Meanwhile, the phrase “Christmas tree” saw a six-fold increase in mentions in November newspapers since 1980.

Jen Baldwin, from Findmypast, added: “Christmas is more than a date on the calendar – it’s a time to get together with loved ones, celebrate family traditions, and promote compassion and goodwill within our communities.

“Discovering how our ancestors marked Christmases past, helps us cherish the diverse ways people around the country have come together to celebrate this occasion.”

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