Bishop Auckland, County Durham, Autumn
An anniversary break.
Celebrating 11 years together, Lisabet and I enjoyed a lovely short break in County Durham area.
It’s a part of northern England that I guess can feel neglected or forgotten about. To the northwest you have the North Pennines and southwest are the Yorkshire Dales. Southeast is the North York Moors and further Northeast is the coast and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
But there is an enormous amount of history in County Durham.
We stayed in Bishop Auckland, 10-minutes away from Durham. Bishop Auckland has a lot to offer, especially with the ongoing improvements courtesy of the ambitious Auckland Project. Upon arriving on the outskirts of the town, we head straight for its historic heart and took to exploring the Auckland Tower, the new Faith Museum, and the grounds of the castle.
We barely scratched the surface. But the just means more to explore for next time.
All photos taken on my Sony α7ii using my Pentax SMC 28mm F3.5 and Rokinon 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC prime lenses. RAWs developed in Lightroom using Cobalt Image’s Fuji Classic Neg profile.
Bishop Auckland, County Durham, Autumn by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Bishop Auckland Town Hall, with its unusual French-style mansard pavilions. It was opened in the mid-19th century, but by the 1970s it was abandoned then scheduled for demolition in the 1980s. Local campaigning saved the building and, after restoration work, it was reopened in the 1990s.
One of the new striking buildings courtesy of the Auckland Project. This is Auckland Tower. Its design is inspired by medieval wooden siege engines, which were propped against castle and fort walls to help invading armies breach defences. Adopting and inverting that same intention, the Auckland Tower borrows the design of those historic constructs to allow visitors to “breach” the castle’s history and allow people to freely explore.
A gallery on the 1st floor of the tower beautifully sets out the story and history of Bishop Auckland the surrounding area. The town was the seat of the powerful Prince Bishops of Durham since 1183 CE. Even before then, a Roman presence was in the area with a fort at nearby Binchester.
Visitors are encouraged to climb up the tower and enjoy the panoramic views on offer, which we duly did. St. Anne’s Church and the Town Hall are on the right, with the town centre through to the left.
From the top of the tower, a view to the east shows the castle gatehouse, built by Sir Thomas Robinson of Rokeby for Bishop William Trevor in 1760 CE. Beyond, the walled gardens and Auckland Park show the last of their autumnal splendour.
The grand entrance to the grounds of Auckland Castle. Inside the castle we paused for lunch in the new cafe, before seeking out the new Faith Museum.
The start of the journey into the Faith Museum. This place is fantastic, a real treasure for history geeks everywhere especially those who have an interest in the history of human faith. Being in County Durham, there is of course a lot of information about the beginnings and development of Christianity in the area, but there’s also heaps of artefacts and info about faith practised in the area during Roman times and before.
Punctuated along the main gallery were these wonderful archway tapestries that I couldn’t resist making a composition of.
Back outside, we soaked in the clear autumn air and explored the castle grounds.
We wandered around the town centre, where a different side of Bishop Auckland could be seen. Much like many other towns through the UK, the high street has seen better days. Hopefully, the Auckland Project will help rejuvenate things.
I love a pub with a mock Tudor facade. Though a pub has been on this site since the 16th century, this particular building was constructed in 1900.