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Town and civil parish in County Durham, England

Bishop Auckland ('/ɔː//k//.//l//ə//n//d/ AWKlənd) is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is 12 mile (19 km) northwest of Darlington and 12 mile (19 km) southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surrounds the Bishops of Durham and the establishment of Auckland Castle's predecessor, a hunting lodge, which became the main residence of Durham Bishops. This is reflected in the first part of the town's name. The parliamentary constituency of Bishop Auckland is named after the town. It is currently held by Dehenna Davison of the Conservative Party. The town is twinned with the French town of Ivry sur Seine. Auckland is an area name used in the settlements of St Helen Auckland, West Auckland and St Andrew Auckland, the latter an old name for South Church, all of which are along the path of the Gaunless. It is believed that this derives from the river's inability to power a mill, sustain fish or create fertile floodplains.

It is thought to be Cumbric, related to Alclud (which was the Kingdom of Strathclyde's alternative name) meaning "cliff on the Clyde". It is thought 'Clyde' may be the river Gaunless's ancient name. Historically attempts have been made to link Auckland to Old Norse Aukland meaning 'additional land'. This view of the name origin could refer to the area recorded as being extra land granted to the Bishop of Durham by King Canute in around 1020. Furthermore, the Romans had a look out post where Auckland Castle is sited today and a fort at nearby Binchester. There is also evidence of possible Iron Age settlements around the town, together with finds of Bronze Age, Neolithic and Mesolithic artefacts.

Much of the town's history surrounds its links with the Bishops of Durham. In 1083, Bishop William de St Calais expelled a number of canons from Durham. Some of these settled in the area and established a collegiate church. Bishop Bek, who preferred the town as his main residence over Durham Castle due to its proximity to hunting grounds, later converted the manor house into a castle. The grounds of the castle were noted as being large enough to contain 16,000 men ahead of the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346. The collegiate church also appears to have supported a school. The collegiate church was re organised under Bishop Langley in 1428 and at some point in the same century moved to the castle grounds. The college and its school were finally dissolved in the 16th century. The school was not revived until the reign of King James I when in 1604 Anne Swifte petitioned the King to found a school and the Free Grammar School of King James, the direct antecedent of today's King James I school, was established. Although the school's early location is unknown, in 1638 Bishop Morton granted the school space in an old chapel in the Market Place. Also in 1604, James's son, the future King Charles I made the first of three visits to the town. On this visit, his first to England, he was entertained by Bishop Matthew. In 1617 James himself stayed in Auckland Castle between 17 and 19 April. Later, on 8 May, at Durham Castle King James is reputed to have rebuked Bishop William James so badly that the Bishop returned to Auckland Castle and died three days later. Consequently, the king had to stay in a public house off the Market Place owned by Christopher Dobson. After the disestablishment of the Church of England, at the end of the first civil war, Auckland Castle was sold to Sir Arthur Hazelrig, who demolished much of the castle, including the chapel, and built a mansion. After the restoration of the monarchy, the new bishop of Durham, John Cosin, in turn demolished Hazelrig's mansion and rebuilt the castle converting the banqueting hall into the chapel that stands today. The Bishop of Durham as of early November 2019, was the Rt Rev. Paul Roger Butler whose position allows him to hold a seat in the House of Lords. In 2012, Jonathan Ruffer purchased Auckland Castle and all of the contents, including the artwork, which included the works by Francisco de Zurbarán. The castle was scheduled to re open to visitors in November 2019, after a multi million pound restoration project. The site would also include three new restaurants for visitors, with one in operation by early November 2019. Nonetheless, the Scotland Wing houses the offices of the Bishop of Durham.

By 1801, the town had a population of 1861. At the end of the eighteenth century the town had no notable roads other than the Roman road, and little trade beyond weaving. Although, coal mining had existed on a small scale as early as 1183 when it is mentioned in the Boldon Book, All this changed with the arrival of railways in the early nineteenth century, which allowed large scale coal mining. The railways allowed coal to be mined, and then transported to the coast before being put onto ships to London and even abroad. Around the same time, the bishop, Shute Barrington was a keen proponent of the use of education to improve the social and moral circumstances of the lower social classes. He used £70,000 received from lead mining royalties in Weardale to fund the establishment of a number of schools in the area. One of these schools was the Bishop Barrington School (now Bishop Barrington Academy), one of the town's three comprehensive schools today. The Bishop Barrington School opened on 26 May 1810, the Bishop's own birthday. The school even allowed girls to attend until the age of 11 years. Barrington's support of education for the poor was not without controversy. Some suggested education of the poor would lead people to question their position in society, others even blamed it for the French Revolution. Barrington's successor, William van Mildert was involved in the creation of Durham University. Durham Castle was donated to the new university and Auckland Castle, usually the preferred residence by successive Bishops, became the Bishop of Durham's official residence in 1832. By 1851 the population of the town had more than doubled to 5,112, In the second half of the nineteenth century there were typically around 60 collieries in the area open at any one time. By the turn of the twentieth century 16,000 people were employed in the mining industry in the area. The town also became an important centre for rail, with large amounts of minerals such as coal, limestone and ironstone mined in the surrounding area passing through the town on the way to the coast. In the neighbouring town of Shildon large numbers were employed in the railways, where a railway engine works was established.

At the end of the eighteenth century the town is noted as having little trade beyond weaving. but early coal mining was limited by the lack of an easy way to transport coal away from the area. As one of the county's main population centres with good bus and rail connections, and thriving markets on Thursdays and Saturdays, shoppers were attracted from smaller settlements on the Durham coalfield for miles around. However, the decline in the coal mining industry, along with increased car ownership and competition from local shopping malls such as the MetroCentre in Gateshead, have caused a downturn in the fortunes of retailers, with commentators lamenting the number of down market stores and charity shops in the town centre. In response, numerous initiatives to regenerate the town centre have been proposed, including the launch of the Bishop Auckland Town Centre Forum, and the 2006 regeneration master plan drawn up by Red Box Group, which was sponsored by Wear Valley District Council and the regional development agency One NorthEast. In 2015, Bishop Auckland was granted Heritage Action Zone status by Historic England, a 5 year programme that aimed to reinvigorate the town and its economy through tourism and its heritage. Notable employers in the town include Ebac, which is headquartered in the town and employs 350 people. A September 2019 report stated that Bishop Auckland was one of the towns designated to receive up £25 million to in funding from a new Towns Fund that was intended "to improve industrial areas that have not benefitted from economic growth in the same way as more prosperous areas." A Durham County Councillor said that the funds would help the partners (including the Auckland Project) to regenerate the town center area for the benefit of all residents of the community.

An October 2019 article in The Guardian referred to Bishop Auckland as a "rundown town since the closure of the mines" but predicted that the re opening of Auckland Castle would transform the community into a "leading tourist destination". after a multi million pound restoration project, funded partly by the National Lottery. The Faith Museum of world religion and a huge glass greenhouse were under construction on Castle property. Other attractions already operating at or near the Castle include the Mining Art Gallery (in a nearby former bank building in the town centre) a 7.5 acre open air theatre, Kynren, on the other side of the River Wear, with a cast of 1,000 depicting the history of England; and the Bishop Trevor Gallery at the Castle. The latter started displaying the National Gallery's Masterpiece touring exhibit in October 2019. In future, other attractions were expected to open in or near the town centre: a display of Spanish art (in another former bank building) the Faith Museum (already being built in 2019 as the Castle), a gallery that will feature medieval to later era artworks, a boutique hotel (in former pubs) and two restaurants in addition to the current bishop's Kitchen café.

For a large part of the area's history, the autonomous powers held by the bishop of Durham meant that the county operated as a principality under England's protectorate. The UNESCO site describes the role of the bishops in the "buffer state between England and Scotland":From 1075, the Bishop of Durham became a Prince Bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes. As long as he remained loyal to the king of England, he could govern as a virtually autonomous ruler, reaping the revenue from his territory, but also remaining mindful of his role of protecting England's northern frontier. A steward of Bishop Antony Bek in the thirteenth century is quoted as saying England had two kings; the king and the bishop of Durham. A 1788 report states that the Bishops had the authority to appoint judges and barons and to offer pardons. The bishops of Durham were not stripped of the last of their secular powers until shortly after the death of Bishop William Van Mildert in 1836 by the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836.

At the end of the nineteenth century the Local Government Act 1894 created Bishop Auckland Urban District council. From 1894 to 1974, the town was governed by the Urban District council within the administrative county of Durham. The district was enlarged to include a number of surrounding settlements in 1937 when Auckland Rural District and Willington Urban District were abolished. The Urban District was replaced, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a two tier district (Wear Valley) and county system. The former urban district area was re parished from the May 2007 local elections with a new town council was established. After the elections, the council elected Barbara Laurie as the town's first re established mayor. On 25 July 2007, Durham County Council and Wear Valley District Council were replaced on 1 April 2009 by a single unitary authority serving the whole of County Durham.

The town is a part of the Bishop Auckland parliamentary constituency, and is currently represented at Westminster by Dehenna Davison MP (Conservative). Prior to Brexit, for the European Parliament its residents voted to elect MEP's for the North East England constituency.

The town is located in the South Area of the Durham Constabulary, and served by the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service and North East Ambulance Service. Bishop Auckland is twinned with the French town of Ivry sur Seine, whilst the wider Wear Valley district was twinned with Bad Oeynhausen in Germany.

The Town Hall is a "Gothic style" Victorian Building overlooking the town's market place and is Grade II* listed. After being abandoned and then condemned for demolition in the 1980s, the town hall was fully restored in the early 1990s. It now houses the town's main public library, a theatre, an art gallery, tourist information centre and a café bar. The Town Hall has held three exhibitions for mining artist Tom Lamb. The first was held in 1999 for his 'Fading Memories' exhibition, then in 2004 for Lamb's 'The Footprints of My Years' exhibition and in 2008 the last exhibition called 'My Mining Days' was held.