Auckland Castle

Auckland Castle, also known as Auckland Palace, is a former bishop's palace located in the town of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, England. The castle was a residence of the bishops of Durham from approximately 1183 and was their primary residence between 1832 and 2012, when the castle and its contents were sold to the Auckland Castle Trust (now the Auckland Project). It is now a tourist attraction, but still houses the bishop's offices.

The castle is notable for its chapel, described as "one of the finest rooms in North East England" in the Buildings of England series, which was the medieval great hall until it was remodelled by Bishop John Cosin in 1661–1665. The woodwork, which includes the pulpit, stalls, and screen, was commissioned by Cosin and combines Gothic and Baroque forms. The castle also contains twelve paintings depicting Jacob and His Twelve Sons by the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán; the thirteenth portrait, Benjamin, is a copy, as the original hangs in Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire. Auckland Castle is a grade I listed building.

Text adapted from “Auckland Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Auckland Castle ranks #1,972 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #139 of the 329 mapped in England. Founded 1183, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,175 times in the last 60 days, more than 76% of the atlas. 7 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Sunderland, 32 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.

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