Bishop Auckland between Britannia and Prince-Bishops: Early Medieval Auckland

Abstract

Early medieval Bishop Auckland is important in understanding the arrangement of the large territorial units of the early medieval period – often known as ‘small shires’ or ‘multiple estates’ – which have been widely, though perhaps vaguely, identified across northern England. Aucklandshire is often cited as a principal example of such territorial arrangements, and is considered one of the most convincing candidates, even by critics. This thesis analyses the origins and development of Aucklandshire from the late Roman period to the end of the twelfth century.

Aucklandshire has previously been identified from the late twelfth-century Boldon Book survey, which details a series of renders and suggests an inter-connected pre- Norman estate. It can also be discerned from nineteenth-century mapping, the few remaining early medieval sites (notably the ecclesiastical sites of Escomb and Auckland St Andrew), and fragmentary documentary references.

This thesis reconstructs the settlement hierarchy across the Bishop Auckland area in the early medieval period and the centuries immediately adjacent. It uses documentary sources, place-name evidence, and existing archaeological data alongside the results of recent investigations at Binchester Roman Fort, the Bishop of Durham’s palace at Auckland Castle, around Escomb Anglo-Saxon church, and across Bishop Auckland town, all of which the author has been involved in leading.

It suggests a sequence of development for Aucklandshire which build upon the enduring of activity at Binchester Roman fort into the earlier early medieval period, but sees Aucklandshire as a novel development of the eighth to ninth centuries, most likely connected to the growing influence of the Community of St Cuthbert in County Durham. Finally, the earliest episcopal occupation of Auckland Palace around AD 1000 can be suggested as the point when the Aucklandshire arrangements seen in Boldon Book become firmly established.