Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/151

THE BARRINGTON SCHOOL CHARITY. To Bishop Bamngton, as well as Bishop Crewe, the town of Bishop Auckland is indebted for one of its principal educational endowments. Previous to the appointment of Bishop Barrington to the See of Durham, the royalties of the Weardale lead mines were let on a lease for three lives to the Beaumont family, the Bishop taking the value of a ninth of the produce in payment. This ninth-lot-ore was usually agreed for when the newly-appointed Bishop took possession of the See, and continued in force during his episcopacy, thus avoiding the necessity of making a new bargain every year. On the arrival of Bishop Barrington in the diocese, his lordship was waited upon by the agent for the Beaumont family, and by him informed of the manner in which the mines in Weardale were held. The Bishop, in reply, said, "Well, I am a stranger to it; but, if you will tell me what it is worth, I am perfectly ready to agree for it." After a little discussion, the agent told him it might be worth £800 a-year, that being about the sum he had paid to his predecessor. "Well," the Bishop said iQ return, "if it is worth £800 a-year, I will take it." The agent said, "I do not mean to say that that is the exact sum; they are worth, I will say, £900." "Well," the Bishop answered, "if you say £900, I will take it;" and that sum was agreed to. It turned out, however, a few years afterwards, that instead of the ninth lot being worth only £900, it was worth £4,000, and the Bishop was advised by his friend Sir Samuel Eomilly to file a bUl in Chancery for the recovery of the difference. The matter remained in Chancery a good many years, but the Bishop ultimately gained his suit, and iQstead of only receiving the £900 a-year originally agreed to, he recovered arrears at the rate of £4,000 a-year, amounting to about £70,000. Of this large sum, it is said, the Bishop decliued to appropriate any portion to his own personal usa The money was expended in the foundation of a fund for the benefit of poor clergymen and their families, and in the establishment of schools in the diocese; alid to the circumstance above alluded to we owe the foundation of the Barrington SchooL In the year 1808, Bishop Barrington purchased, from one Samuel Eeay and his wife, a house then known as "Pollard's HaU," and a piece of land adjoining, situate in the Market-place, Bishop Auckland, for the sum of £250, whereon he, in the year 1810, erected the present large and commodious buUding known as the Barrington School, at a cost of £2,250. The school was originally conducted on the Madras system, introduced into this coimtry by the late Dr. Bell, who (when the author was a scholar) frequently visited the school and examined the scholars, he being weU-known to all the boys by the cognomen of " Old Tal'um." He was a broad Scotchman, and, when questioning the various classes, was in the habit of using the words " tell him," which his broad idiom converted iQto the word "tal'um." The school was open to aU the children in the parish of St Andrew's Auckland, whose parents had to apply to the master for their admission; and in those daj^ boys residing at South Church, Escomb, Coundon, Westerton, and all the surrounding villages, attended the schooL They were taught readiQg, writing, and accounts, and were supplied gratuitously with pens, ink, paper, books, and aU school requisites.* Girls also received similar instruction to the boys, but were not allowed to remain after the age of eleven years, when, if they wished it, they were transferred to another establishment called the " School of Industry," which was situated in Silver-street, in a building whereon now stands the Mechanics' Institute, and the expense of their education was paid from the Barrington School fund At the first institution of the school, nine boys, who were called monitors, were boarded and lodged in the house, for the purpose of learning the system, and preparing themselves for teaching • The first writing lessons of the junior dasses were given on sand. A kind of long trough, filled with that material, was placed along the desks, and the lessons were written with a wooden skewer on the surface of the sand. Digitized by Google