Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/42

mSTOBY OF BISHOP AUCKLAND. 25 dausmn vocat Moredoee aliter vocat Wighton Wallys in Auckland, Epi' pnt 'sepibs' et foasats bduditna. In Quihus Badui Shirewod de Evyivwood inde hens' jus primo die Mardi anno pont dm' Thome' miseracone' tituli See' Cecilie Sacroste Romane Ecdie Presbiteri CardinaUs Ebor Archiepus' Aplid' Sedis eciam de Lite legatus Anglie primatus et Gancellarii Necnon Epi Dunelmn Oora dd' dm' Epi' in Cancellarii sua Dunehnn psonalit' constitnt tot' jus* titlu' et statnm sua inde sursum reddidit in manus de reverendi Dm' Epi' Hendum' eisd' T^Uma^ Antonis' Bobto' et Johis^ et sequelis suis ad umm et pre/ate coaM viMat de ilt<cik^n^ pdict pnt p bre' dd' revdi' Dm' Epi' inde confect et sigillat et in custodia capitHs Senescidli remanent plenius constat Beddendi inde p ann ad usuale, &c. By what means, or by whom these lands were alienated and taken from the copyholders of Bishop Auckland, and became the property of a private individual, we have not been able to ascertain. CHAPTEK V. The Commonwealth was one of the most remarkable and momentous epochs in the history of our country. In its events and changes, not only the See of Durham at large, but Bishop Auckland, and its castle in particular, participated On the 9th of October, 1646, an ordinance for the total abolition of episcopacy passed both Houses of Parliament, and was followed on the 16th November, by an order for the sale of all the Bishop's lands for the use of the Commonwealth We find the then Bishop driven from his palatial residence, his lands and revenues taken possession of by a parliamentary conmiission, and the Castle and Manor-house of Auckland, with all its appurtenances, sold to Sir Arthur Haslerigg, of Noseley, in Northamptonshire, for the sum of £6, 102 8s. 1 1^ , who began without delay to puU down the old, and reconstruct for himself a new mansion-house within the court of the old castle. There is a tradition, though not authenticated by any record, that the parliamentary forces laid siege to the castle and fired several shots, destroying some part of the outer buildings, but this idea seems to have arisen from the fact that gunpowder was reaUy used by Haslerigg for blasting purposes, in pulling down the old buildings. In Basire's " Dead Man's Real Speech," a funeral sermon upon the burial of Bishop Cosin, he says, "he did errect a goodly chappie in the Castle of Auckland, consecrated by himself on St Peter's Day, 1665, two goodly chappies formerly errected there being blown up by Sir Arthur Haslerigg in the gunpowder plot of the late rebellion." Of the pulling down and rebuilding of the castle by Haslerigg we have no record, nor have we any account rolls — ^as in the times of the Bishops — ^by which we can obtain gUmpses of the domestic economy, or the doings at Auckland or its castle, during the term of nineteen years it was in his possession. Tradition says that during that time it was the residence for a short while of the Poet MUton, who was Latin Secretary to Cromwell, but of this, however, we have no written record With respect to the building, Dugdale informs us that " he (Haslerigg) designing to make Auckland his principal seat, not liking the old-fashioned building of the castle, resolved therefore on a new structure of a most noble and beautiful fabric, all of one pile, according to the most elegant mode of those times, taking for his pattern that curious and stately buUding at Thorpe, near Peterborough, which Oliver St John, the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, under those mighty rulers, had, after the murder of the King, newly erected, partly out of the ruins of an ancient and goodly chapel adjoining to the church at Peterborough, on the north side thereof, and part of that cathedral" The house above referred to is said to have been a large square four-storied edifice, with dormer windows, and an ornamental frontispiece, or doorway. Haslerigg's house is believed to have stood on the ground stretching southwards from the east end of the present chapel, with its front facing westwards towards the present great drawing-room. That the establishment which Haslerigg kept up at Auckland was upon an extensive scale seems probable, as he was a man of considerable wealth and influence, being Grovemor of Newcastle as well as that of Tynemouth ; in fact, his possessions and power were so great, that it is said to have acquired for him the title of the "Bishop of Durham." On the accession of Charles IL, Auckland Castle again changed masters. With the restoration Digitized by Google ^