Auckland St Andrew

Parish Notes Durham

Auckland St Andrew

[Population 1911: 15,382 incl. 427 persons enumerated in the Auckland Union Workhouse]

Church

The Parish Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is situate in the village, on the left bank of the Gaunless, and is a large cruciform structure, in the early English style, consisting of nave and aisles, transept, choir and aisles, with a western tower. The south or entrance porch has an elegant groined roof, and had formerly three windows, which are now built up. The interior of the church has a noble appearance; and the stalled seats of the chancel, twenty-eight in number, are in the same style as those of Darlington, and some of them very spirited in design. The church will accomodate about 820 persons; it contains several marble tablets, and two ancient effigies, one of which is a representation of a female cut in stone, supposed to represent a member of the family of Bellasis; and the other is a carved wooden image of a man in armour, traditionally said to be one of the Pollards. Here were formerly two chantries, one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and the other to St John the Baptist; the former was valued at £8 12s. 6d., and the latter at £7 16s. The founders of these chantries are unknown. This church was made colliegate by Bishop Carilepho, for the reception of secular clergy whom he had ejected from Durham; and it subsequently received a munificent endowment from Bishop Beck, who, by his statutes dated 1292, appointed a dean and nine prebendaries. In 1428, Bishop Langley made some alteration in the establishment, for we find, in the Lincoln taxation, that there were twelve protionists or prebendaries at Auckland, whose revenues were then rated at £249 13s. 4d. In the 26th Henry VIII, the deanery was valued at £400 7s. 2d., and the eleven prebends as follows: Auckland and Binchester, £9 6s 8d.; second prebend of Auckland, £8 13s 4d.; third do., £8 13s. 4d.; fourth, £8 13s. 4d.; Shildon prebend, £4 13s. 4d.; Witton prebend, £4 13s. 4.; West Auckland prebend, £8; St. Helen's Auckland prebend, ---; Hamsterley prebend, £4 6s.8.; total annual value, £79 16s. 8d. The church suffered greatly at the dissolution. 1st Edward VI., 1547, when it left neither rectorial nor vicarial, but became a donative or curacy, with but small provision, considering the extent, population, and opulence of the parish. The estates, rights, and tithes belonging to the church were disposed of by the crown to various parties. Bishop Pilkington, the first Protestant Bishop of Durham, who had obtained the site of the college, a residence for the dean and prebendaries in the vicinity of the Castle, destroyed its bells, made a bowling green of its quadrangle, and erected a "paire of butts for shooting" in the chapel. During the period of the Commonwealth, the deanery lands wer purchased by Sir Arthur Hazelrigg; but, after his attainder, they were granted to Bishop Cosin, who annexed them to the see for ever. Bishop Cosin endowed the living with a moiety of the prebend of Bondgate; and £30 a years is added from Lord Crewe's charities. The gross income amounts to £587 per annum. The living, which is a perpetual curacy with the dependant curacy of St. Ann's, is in the patronage of the Bishop of Durham; the landowners of the parish impropriators. The parish register commences in 1558. Rev. George Edward Green, B.A., incumbent. [Whellan's History, Topography and Directory of Durham (and Newcastle) (1856), pages 274-75.]

Townships

Topography

History

The Parish Chest

Non-Parochial Records

Newcastle Courant 4/5/1838 On Tuesday last, a neat mural monument was erected in the parish church of St Andrews Auckland, to the memory of the late Mrs Wm Dobson, of Bishop Auckland, who for many years conducted an establishment in that place for the education of young ladies.

Page	Name	Abode	Date	Age
51/401	Hannah	Eldon	9th May 1819	93