AUCKLAND (BISHOP), a market-town and chapelry,
in that part of the parish of ST-ANDREW-AUCKLAND
which is in the north-western division of DARLINGTON
ward, county palatine of DURHAM, 10§ miles
(S. W.) fro.m Durham, and 252 (N. by W.) from London,
containing 2180 inhabitants. This place derives
its name from the great number of oak trees which formerly
grew in the neighbourhood, and its prefix from
an episcopal palace, in which the bishops of the diocese,
who are lords of the manor, occasionally reside. The
town is pleasantly situated on a considerable eminence,
near the confluence of the rivers Gaunless and Wear,
in a fertile district, remarkable for the salubrity of the
air, and abounding with coal and limestone; the streets
are tolerably paved, the houses are well built, and the
inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water. The
palace, originally erected in the reign of Edward I. by
Bishop Anthony Beck, and subsequently enlarged, was
destroyed during the parliamentary war. After the Restoration
it was rebuilt, by Bishop Cosins, in a beautiful
park north-east of the town: it is a spacious structure,
surrounded with plantations and pleasure grounds
watered by the Gaunless. The market is on Thursday;
the fairs, which are of recent origin, are in March and
October, but on no fixed day; the ancient fairs, on the
days of Ascension and Corpus Christi, are now obsolete.
The county magistrates hold petty sessions monthly;
and courts leet and baron are held annually, at the former
of which a bailiff and other officers are appointed.
The Bishop's chapel is a stately edifice, built about
the year i860, by Dr. John Cosins, Bishop of Durham,
whose, remains are therein deposited. The living is a
perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of
Durham, endowed with £600 private benefaction, and
& 1200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the
Bishop of Durham. There are places of worship for
the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyan
Methodists. The free grammar school was founded by
James I.: the original endowment, consisting of an
estate in Weardale, has been augmented b,y subsequent
benefactions; the management is vested in twelve governors,
who are a body corporate, and have a common
seal; the school-room was rebuilt in 1783, and a
small neat chapel, dedicated to St. Anne, erected over it
by subscription. A school for twenty boys was founded
by Mr. Walton, in 1772: the master has a rent-free
residence., and a salary of £20 per annum; and a school
on Dr.Bell's system, for two hundred children, was
established in 1810, by Bishop Barrington, who also
founded a school of industry for girls, in 1815. Almshouses
for two men and two women were founded and
endowed by Bishop Cosins, in the reign of Charles II.