the Fetherstonhaughs, so long associated with this district, Stanhope Hall, is an Elizabethan mansion with several panelled rooms, and is now divided amongst a number of tenants.
Witton Castle, erected by the great baronial house of Eure, stands on the south side of the river, not very far from Witton-le-Wear. It was erected somewhere about 1410, for in that year Bishop Langley granted a pardon to Sir Ralph Eure for having commenced to embattle his manor-house at Witton. It originally consisted of a square bailey, surrounded by an outer wall, with a projecting keep on the north side.
The keep has been considerably altered at various periods. It is oblong in shape, with corner turrets rising above the roof. The basement consists of one barrel-vaulted apartment, with adjoining chambers in the north-west, south-west, and south-east turrets; the entrances to two of these were originally fastened on the outer side. The first floor is the great hall, and has doorways leading into chambers in the turrets. Another door in the north-east corner leads to a newel staircase ascending to the battlements. The room immediately over the east end of the great hall has a doorway opening into a small mural chamber, originally a latrine, in the north-east turret. This floor has a passage in the thickness of the west wall. The parapets are reached by the staircase already referred to. The turrets at the north-east and south-east corners project like angle buttresses, and the latter has two figures in armour, similar to those at Hilton Castle, standing on the parapet. The north-west turret is larger, and its sides are parallel with the walls of the keep. The south-west turret is still larger, and it projects beyond the south front, having its west wall continued in line with that of the main building. All the turrets have crenellated parapets. The eastern turrets have their alternate sides machicolated on double corbels.
The outer wall has two gateways, one on the east, and the other on the west side, leading into the courtyard. Both are defended by machicolated galleries above, the parapet being carried outwards on double corbels. The whole wall is defended by a broad battlement with a high parapet round the top. There are embrasures at intervals, each originally defended by movable shutters; a round socket on one side, and a slot on the other, remain to show where the pivots moved. A number of round holes in the walls were intended to support woodwork on which platforms could be erected, thus enabling the garrison to strike at attackers below.
Each angle of this outer or curtain wall was originally strengthened by a bartizan. Three of these were circular, but one, that at the north-west corner, was pulled down in the early days of last century. The fourth bartizan, that at the south-west corner of the wall, is almost square in shape, with the outer walls projecting and resting on corbels. It contains a guardroom, with a fireplace, and two doors opening on to the adjoining battlements. The south-east bartizan also contains a room, circular in shape, with a loopholed wall. About a century ago the castle was unfortunately damaged by fire. It was afterwards restored by Mr. J. T. H. Hopper, the owner.
Tracing the river eastwards, the ancient home and palace of the Bishops and Lords Palatine stands close to the river and to the east of Auckland town.
Robert de Graystanes, one of the early chroniclers, states that Bishop Anthony Bek erected the manor-house at Auckland, but from several entries in the Boldon Book it is evident that the Bishops had a residence there at the time that record was drawn up.
The existing buildings are extensive, and are approached from the market-place through a castellated gateway. One of the most prominent and interesting features is the chapel, which was originally the great hall. It was adapted for its present purpose and consecrated by Bishop Cosin. Prior to the great Civil War, there were two chapels, variously referred to, and as early as 1338, as the major and the minor. One of these was over the other, and they stood to the south of the castle proper, near to a postern which opened on to a road outside the park. When for a while the Episcopal Church was abolished by a Puritan Government, and the old story of spiteful spoliation began, Auckland Palace was sold to Sir Arthur Heslerigg for £6,102 8s. 11½d. This redoubtable worthy appears to have dismantled a considerable portion of the buildings. He blew up the chapels,[11] and commenced to alter the place to suit his own ideas.
It seems probable that Sir Arthur left his projected buildings in an unfinished state, for when Bishop Cosin came to his diocese at the Restoration, he wrote that the castle "had been pul’d down and ruined." The Bishop commenced an extensive restoration, and a number of interesting letters and agreements have been preserved showing the progress made.