The main street of Bishop Auckland is a Roman road, part of Dere Street. The Romans had a look-out post on the site of the current Bishop's Palace, but their large cavalry fort was built at Binchester, (photo left, Commanding Officer's House and Bath House) about a mile to the North, a cavalry supply station for the Roman Wall.

The earliest record we have of Bishop Auckland is as a bishop's borough, given to the Church by Canute in about 1020. Undoubtedly, the village existed some time before this, and there was a church at South Church from Saxon times, possibly earlier. In 1083, monks were sent there from Durham Cathedral to form a collegiate church. They lived in the Deanery at South Church. The medieval village stretched from the Town Head at the top of Newton Cap Bank, down to the Palace wall. The Market Place and Bondgates were a continuos village green.

Medieval bishops enlarged what was originally a small manor house to cater for their important guests whom they would entertain with hunting in their great forest of Weardale. In 1190 the Bishop's Chapel, (photo right) now the largest private chapel in Europe, was built, originally as a banqueting hall. Bishop Cosin converted it to a chapel in 1665 after the Civil War.

Medieval Prince Bishops were extremely powerful, and the bishopric acted as a buffer state against the marauding Scots. Some of these powers lasted until the mid-19th Century, when Bishop van Mildert, the last of the Prince Bishops, relinquished his rights and also his castle in Durham, giving it to found the new university. After this Auckland Castle became the official residence of the Bishops.

At some time in the 15th Century the College of St. Andrew's at South Church moved up to the Palace grounds. The white cottages to the left of the entrance gates form one side of the original quadrangle. The school which they ran had a checkered history, and was revived in 1604 as King James 1 Grammar School - but, in fact, goes back very much further.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the incomes of the Bishop's of Durham rivalled those of the wealthiest peers. They held court at Bishop Auckland and attracted wealthy and professional classes to the town, but very little industry, which was probably discouraged. It was reputed to be a very healthy location. The long Roman main street (photo left) became a toll road for coaches coming over Stainmore through Barnard Castle to meet the Great North Road at Sunderland Bridge. A number of coaching inns grew up in the town. There was some linen weaving and a preponderance of tanning and shoemaking: also clock and instrument making in which some Bishop Auckland men achieved a notable reputation, chief of these being Thomas Wright, who pioneered the theory of the disc-shaped universe, and Jeremiah Dixon, sent to America with Mason to map the Mason-Dixon line.

The Barrington School in the Market Place was founded in 1810, and also achieved international fame when the Tsar of Russia sent a delegation to study its methods. The Grammar School had a famous pupil in 1826 when the future Lord Armstrong of armaments and shipbuilding fame was sent to Bishop Auckland to study here.

The railway arrived in 1843. Much of the future prosperity of the town was due to it being the centre of a rail transportation network of seven lines. The early 19th century saw the rapid development of the Durham Coalfield, and Bishop Auckland was surrounded by small pits, the last of which was closed in the 1960's. It retained its status as a Market Town, providing professional services and shopping for the many mining villages which surrounded it, and also the lead miners of Weardale.

One of the earliest Co-operative Societies was founded in Bishop Auckland in 1860, which expanded throughout South Durham. The splendid annual Flower Show, held in the Bishop's Park, made a name for the town.

At the turn of the century, Arthur Stanley Jefferson lived briefly in Bishop Auckland, and was later sent back here to the Grammar School - he later left for America and changed his name to Stan Laurel.

Bishop Auckland was nationally known in the 20th century for the achievements of the football club which held an unrivalled record in the Amateur Cup, appearing in the final eighteen times, and winning ten times, including a memorable three years in a row in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Their national status was so high that after the Munich air disaster, three of their players were asked to join Manchester United to help re-establish their team.

The 20th century saw the rail network drastically reduced and the viaduct which carried the line to Durham became redundant. An innovatory initiative from the townspeople resulted in the viaduct's transformation to a road bridge.

The Town Hall, built to a French design in 1861, is now, after an award-winning conversion, the focus for the creative and artistic life of the town.

This short history was prepared by Barbara Laurie, a local historian, who has published a number of books about Bishop Auckland. These include " Memories of Bishop Auckland", "Pollard and the Boar", "A Lifetime in Schools", "Bishop Auckland in Wartime", "Listed Bridges of Bishop Auckland", Bishop Auckland in the 1850s" and " Bishop Auckland in the 1950s".