Astrop

ASTROP, a hamlet, in the parishes of King's Sutton and Newbottle, hundred of King's Sutton, union of Brackley, S. division of the county of Northampton, 5¾ miles (W.) from Brackley; containing 224 inhabitants. Here is a mineral spring called St. Rumbald's well, which, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, was much frequented.

Astwell

ASTWELL, a hamlet, partly in the parish of Syresham, but chiefly in the parish of Wapenham, union of Brackley; hundred of King's Sutton, S. division of the county of Northampton, 5½ miles (N. N. E.) from Brackley; containing 46 inhabitants, and comprising, with the hamlet of Falcutt, 1790a. 3r. 36p.

Astwick (St. Guthlake)

ASTWICK (St. Guthlake), a parish, in the union and hundred of Biggleswade, county of Bedford, 3¾ miles (N. W. by N.) from Baldock; containing 84 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the road from Baldock to Biggleswade, a little to the north of that between Baldock and Shefford, and lies on the border of Hertfordshire. It is bounded by the river Ivel, which separates it from the parish of Stotfold; and comprises by measurement 640 acres of arable land: the soil is heavy, and the sub-soil clay. The living is a rectory, united in 1764 to the vicarage of Arlsey, and valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4.

Astwood (St. Peter)

ASTWOOD (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from Newport-Pagnell, on the road to Bedford; containing 243 inhabitants. This place was at the Conquest surveyed as part of the adjoining parish of Hardmead, and belonged to William Fitzanculph, from whom it descended by marriage to Fulk Paganell, the founder of Newport-Pagnell. The parish comprises 1259a. 1r. 7p., and is high table-land, which recedes on each side; the soil is "galt," a kind of clay mixed with lime and chalk. The female population are employed in the manufacture of lace. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 6. 8., endowed with the great tithes, and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor: the tithes have been commuted for £230. 11. 6., of which £29. 10. have been resigned for land; the glebe consists of 14 acres, with a house built in 1843. The church is an ancient structure, with a square tower; it contains a rather handsome Norman font, and a brass monument of three figures, representing a man and his two wives. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Aswarby (St. Denis)

ASWARBY (St. Denis), a parish, in the union of Sleaford, wapentake of Aswardhurn, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 4 miles (N. by W.) from Folkingham; containing 119 inhabitants. It comprises about 1500 acres, and is situated on the road from London to Lincoln. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 4. 7., and in the gift of Sir T. Whichcote, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £327. 12., and there are 47 acres of glebe, and a good house. The church, a handsome building in the pointed style, was extensively repaired, and its chancel rebuilt, in 1840, at the expense of the patron and incumbent. There is a chalybeate spring. Aswarby Hall is a large mansion, situated in a well-wooded park.

Aswardby (St. Helen)

ASWARDBY (St. Helen), a parish, in the union of Spilsby, hundred of Hill, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 4 miles (N. W. by N.) from Spilsby; containing 92 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 19. 4½.; net income, £266; patron, R. Brackenbury, Esq. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Atcham

ATCHAM, a parish, and the head of a union, in the Wellington division of the hundred of South Bradford, N. division of Salop, 4 miles (S. E. by E.) from Shrewsbury; containing 513 inhabitants. The Roman Watling-street passes through the parish, and here crosses the Severn. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 6. 8.; net income, £240; patron, R. Burton, Esq.; impropriators, Lord Berwick, R. Burton, Esq., and others. A school is supported by Mr. Burton; and divers sums are distributed annually among the necessitous, the principal of which is one of about £40, arising out of an estate devised by Elizabeth Jones, in 1733. The poor-law union of Atcham comprises 43 parishes and places.

Athelhampton.—See Admiston.

ATHELHAMPTON.—See Admiston.

Athelington (St. Peter)

ATHELINGTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union and hundred of Hoxne, E. division of Suffolk, 6 miles (S. E. by E.) from Eye; comprising by measurement 475 acres, and containing 111 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £4. 14. 2., and in the patronage of the Crown. The tithes payable to the incumbent have been commuted for £150, and there are about 16 acres of glebe; other tithes, claimed by the rector of West Stow, have been commuted for £192. 5., and he has also a glebe here of about 30 acres. The church, which is chiefly in the decorated style, consists of a nave and chancel, with a square tower.

Atherington (St. Mary)

ATHERINGTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Barnstaple, hundred of North Tawton, South Molton and N. divisions of Devon, 7 miles (S. S. E.) from Barnstaple; containing 629 inhabitants. A portion of the lands was granted by Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, to the convent of Caen, in Normandy, which she had founded; and in the reign of Henry III. some nuns from that establishment settled here, and erected a chapel, in which was placed a statue of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who in the time of Edward III. was lord of the manor. During the protectorate of Cromwell, Charles II. concealed himself in the parsonagehouse, and the chamber in which he slept is still preserved. The parish is situated on the river Taw, and intersected by the direct road from Barnstaple to Exeter: it comprises 3325a. 2r. 1p., of which 2634 acres are arable, 125 meadow, 449 woodland, and 117 acres rivers and roads; the soil is clay. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £26. 2. 1.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. James Arthur, whose tithes have been commuted for £416, and who has a glebe of 200 acres. The church contains a richly ornamented screen and rood-loft crossing the north aisle; also the monument of a crusader, and an altar-tomb with the figures of a knight and his two ladies on brass plates; and the statue of John of Gaunt, which was removed from the ancient chapel in 1826.

Atherington, Sussex.—See Aldrington.

ATHERINGTON, Sussex.—See Aldrington.

Atherley, hundred of North Bradford, county of Salop.—See Adderley.

ATHERLEY, hundred of North Bradford, county of Salop.—See Adderley.

Atherstone

ATHERSTONE, a market-town, chapelry, and the head of a union, in the parish of Mancetter, Atherstone division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of the county of Warwick, 20 miles (N. by E.) from Warwick, and 105 (N. W. by N.) from London, on the road to Chester; containing 3743 inhabitants. The name of this place, in Domesday book written Aderestone, is by Dugdale derived from its Saxon possessor Edred or Aldred, and thence called Edredestone or Aldredestone; by others its name is deduced from its situation near Mancester, or Mancetter, the Manduessedum of the Romans, reckoning from which station here was the nearest milliarium on the line of the Watling-street, and hence called Hither-stone or Atherstone. In 1485, the Earl of Richmond, previously to the battle of Bosworth Field, entered the town on the 20th of August, encamped his forces in a meadow north of the church, still called the Royal meadow, and took up his own quarters at an ancient inn, now the Three Tuns, where he passed the night. Here he had an interview with the Stanleys, and concerted those measures which secured him the victory in the celebrated battle that took place on the 22nd, and which terminated the war between the houses of York and Lancaster.

The town has one principal street, containing many ancient and several modern houses, and from which another street branches to the market-place; it is paved, well lighted, and amply supplied with water. There is a circulating library; and assemblies are held occasionally in the town-hall, a neat brick building on piazzas. Stone is quarried for road-making and for walls; and the manufacture of hats and caps, chiefly of a coarse kind, for soldiers and the West India trade, was formerly carried on to a considerable extent; but since the termination of the war, and the abolition of the slave trade, it has declined, there being little demand for soldiers' caps and none for negroes' hats. The Trent Valley railway, completed in 1847, runs by the town; and the Coventry and Fazeley canal passes at its northwestern extremity, where extensive coal and lime wharfs have been constructed. The market, granted in the 31st of Henry III., is on Tuesday; and fairs are held on April 7th and July 18th, for cattle; Sept. 19th, 20th, and 21st, for cattle, cheese, and pedlery, on the Tuesday after which is a statute-fair; and on Dec. 4th, which is a great show-fair for cattle, &c. The county magistrates hold a petty-session weekly: the hundred court is held here in rotation with other towns; and a court leet annually, at which constables and other officers are appointed. The powers of the county debt-court of Atherstone, established in 1847, extend over nearly the whole of the registration-district of Atherstone.

The township comprises 842 acres, chiefly pasture land. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £150; patron, the Vicar of Mancetter. The chapel is dedicated to St. Mary; it formerly belonged to the monks of Bec, in Normandy. There are places of worship for Independents and Methodists; also a convent of the Dominican order, the foundation stone of which was laid in Sept. 1837, and a chapel attached to which, dedicated to Our Blessed Lady of the Rosary, was opened Oct. 6th, 1841. A grammar school was founded in the 5th of Elizabeth, 1573, by Sir William Devereux of Merevale, Thomas Fulner, and Amyas Hyll, and a charter of incorporation was obtained: in 1749 the schoolroom was divided, and the grammar school is now conducted in one part, and an endowed English school in the other. The endowment amounts to £302 per annum, of which the master has £150 and the English master £50, and £60 are appropriated for repairs, contingent expenses, and a building fund; the residue being paid in augmentation of the head master's salary. Upwards of forty scholars are at present on the foundation. The poor law union of Atherstone comprises nine parishes and places in the county of Warwick, and five in the county of Leicester, and contains a population of 10,866. Drayton, the poet, and one of the earliest topographical writers, was, according to Dugdale, born here.

Atherstone-upon-Stour

ATHERSTONE-upon-Stour, a parish, in the union of Stratford-upon-Avon, Kington division of the hundred of Kington, S. division of the county of Warwick, 3 miles (S.) from Stratford; containing, with the village of Ailston, 93 inhabitants. The parish is nearly surrounded by the county of Gloucester; it consists of 1030 acres, and is intersected by the river Stour and the road from Stratford to Shipston. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 1. 8.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. Thomas Cox, D.D. The tithes have been commuted for £253.

Atherton

ATHERTON, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Leigh, hundred of West Derby, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 12 miles (W. by N.) from Manchester, and on the road from Leigh to Bolton; containing, with the village of Chowbent, 4475 inhabitants. This place was held of the barons of Warrington by Robert de Atherton, in the reign of John; and in this knightly family the manor descended through many generations, successively allied to the Byrons, Warrens, Ashtons, Butlers, Catterals, Conyers, Irelands, and Bolds: by the marriage of the late Lord Lilford with the heiress of Atherton, the manor came to his lordship's family. The chapelry comprises 2323a. 3r. 35p., and abounds with valuable stone and extensive coalmines. Two-thirds of the population are employed in the cotton and silk manufactures, in the working of the collieries, and in making nails; and the remaining third in agricultural pursuits. A cattle-fair is held in January, and holiday fairs on the 29th of June and 24th of August. Atherton Hall, a superb edifice, built by the Atherton family in the early part of the 18th century, at an expense of about £63,000, was taken down in 1825; Alder House, an ancient mansion of stone, of peculiar architecture, is the residence of Alfred Silvester, Esq. The village of Atherton includes that of Chowbent, the name of the latter being now in disuse. Petty-sessions are held every alternate Monday. The living, endowed about 1720 by Sir Richard Atherton, is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Lord Lilford, with a net income of £100: the tithes have been commuted for £118 per annum. The present chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and is a plain structure, built in 1810: the former edifice originally belonged to dissenters, and was consecrated in 1723, for the service of the Church, by Dr. Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man. There are places of worship for Unitarians and Baptists; and infants' and day schools, in connexion with the chapel, built in 1840.

Atlow

ATLOW, a parish, in the hundred of Appletree, S. division of the county of Derby, 5 miles (E. N. E.) from Ashbourn; containing 156 inhabitants. This is the Etelaw of Domesday book. The manor once belonged to Henry de Ferrars, and was held under him or his immediate heirs by the ancestor of the ancient family of Okeover. It lies north of the road from Ashbourn to Belper. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of Mr. Okeover: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £110. The church is a dilapidated structure, situated in the middle of a field. Near the village is a high hill, called "Magger's Bush," which affords an extensive prospect.

Attenborough (St. Mary)

ATTENBOROUGH (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Shardlow, S. division of the wapentake of Broxtow, N. division of the county of Nottingham, 6 miles (S. W.) from Nottingham; containing, with the township of Toton and the hamlet of Chilwell, 1036 inhabitants, of whom 124 are in the village of Attenborough. This parish, the surface of which is diversified with boldly swelling undulations, comprises about 2580 acres, whereof 1480 are in Chilwell and 1100 in Toton: the river Erewash passes through. The village has now the appearance of a lonely and deserted place, but is said to have been formerly considerable; in a field near it is the stump of the town cross, called "St. Mary's Cross," the numerous dwellings around which have long since disappeared. It is supposed that the liability to floods from the Trent, caused the inhabitants to fix themselves in the drier locality of Chilwell. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Bramcote annexed, valued in the king's books at £4. 15.; net income, £250; patron and impropriator, George Saville Foljambe, Esq. The tithes of Attenborough have been commuted for £280, half payable to the trustees of the Chesterfield school, and half to the vicar: the glebe consists of about 40 acres. The church is situated at Toton, and is a large edifice, with a nave, aisles, and chancel, and a tower (with five bells) surmounted by a handsome spire; the pillars of the nave and aisles are those of a former and probably yet larger structure. In 1688, Thomas Charlton, of Chilwell, bequeathed one pound yearly to the minister, on the condition of his preaching a sermon on the 5th of November, in relation to the events which took place on that day; and several small sums were left by different members of his family, and others, which are distributed annually to the poor. Attenborough is the birthplace of Henry Ireton, son-in-law of Cromwell, and lord deputy of Ireland in the time of the Commonwealth.

Atterby

ATTERBY, a township, in the parish of Bishop's Norton, union of Caistor, E. division of the wapentake of Aslacoe, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 10¼ miles (W. N. W.) from Market-Rasen; containing 142 inhabitants. The tithes were commuted for land in 1769.

Attercliffe

ATTERCLIFFE, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Sheffield, S. division of the wapentake of Stafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 1½ mile (N.E.) from Sheffield; containing 4156 inhabitants. This place is situated on the road from Sheffield to Worksop and Rotherham, and, together with the hamlet of Darnall, occupies a triangular area at the south-eastern extremity of the parish, bounded on the north by the river Don, and on the east by the small river Carbrook. The village is well built, and contains several handsome houses. The manufacture of steel is carried on extensively, and many of the inhabitants are employed in making anvils and agricultural implements: at Royds Mills is a gold and silver refinery. The old chapel, at the eastern extremity of the village, was erected in 1629 by Stephen Bright and William Spencer, Esqs., and others of the principal inhabitants, who endowed it with £10 per annum; it is now only used for the performance of the funeral service. Christ church, the first stone of which was laid by the Duke of Norfolk, assisted by Earl Fitzwilliam, in 1822, was completed at an expense of £14,000, of which £11,700 were granted by the Parliamentary Commissioners, and consecrated in 1826; it is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower crowned with pinnacles. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Sheffield. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans.

Atterton

ATTERTON, a hamlet, in the parish of Witherley, union of Atherstone, hundred of Sparkenhoe, S. division of the county of Leicester, 3¼ miles (E. by N.) from Atherstone; containing 84 inhabitants.

Attington

ATTINGTON, an extra-parochial liberty, in the hundred of Thame, county of Oxford, 1 mile (E. by N.) from Tetsworth; containing 8 inhabitants. It comprises 434 acres of land.

Attleborough

ATTLEBOROUGH, a hamlet, in the parish and union of Nuneaton, Atherstone division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of Warwickshire, 1 mile (S. S. E.) from Nuneaton; containing 1095 inhabitants. This being part of the lordship of Nuneaton, was entirely possessed by the nuns of the convent of that name. The hamlet lies on the road from Nuneaton to Wolvey. A neat church in the later English style, with a tower and spire, has been lately completed, containing 511 sittings, of which 347 are free: it is dedicated to the Trinity; and the living is a perpetual curacy in the gift of the Vicar, with a net income of £120.

Attlebridge (St. Andrew)

ATTLEBRIDGE (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of St. Faith, hundred of Taverham, E. division of Norfolk, 8 miles (N. W.) from Norwich; containing 94 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the road from Norwich to Fakenham, comprises 1237a. 2r. 34p. The living is a discharged vicarage, united to the rectory of Alderford, and valued in the king's books at £4. 6. 10½.: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £70, and there are 10 acres of glebe; the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £162. 18. The church is a handsome structure in the decorated English style, with a square embattled tower.

Attleburgh, or Attleborough (St. Mary)

ATTLEBURGH, or Attleborough (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, in the union of Wayland, hundred of Shropham, W. division of Norfolk, 15 miles (S. W. by W.) from Norwich, and 94 (N. E. by N.) from London; containing 1959 inhabitants. This place derives its name from Atheling, or Attlinge, a Saxon chieftain, by whom it is supposed to have been originally founded; and from a burgh or fortress, by which it was defended against the frequent incursions of the Danes. It was anciently the capital of Norfolk, and the residence of Offa and Edmund, kings of East Anglia; and was subsequently the seat of the Mortimer family, the site of whose baronial hall is still encompassed by a moat. In the reign of Richard II., Robert de Mortimer founded a collegiate establishment, in the church of the Holy Cross, for a warden and four secular priests; the revenue was estimated at £21. 16. 3., and, with the site, was granted to the Earl of Essex. The town, of which a considerable portion was destroyed by fire in 1559, is at present of very inconsiderable extent, consisting principally of one long street; it lies on the road from Norwich to Thetford, and has a station on the Norwich and Thetford railway, being about midway between those places. The market is chiefly for corn, and is on Thursday; fairs are held on the Thursday before Easter and Whitsuntide, and on the 15th August. The powers of the county debt-court of Attleburgh, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Guiltcross and Wayland. The former town comprised the two parishes of Attleburgh Major and Minor; the first a rectory, valued in the king's books at £19. 8. 9.; and the second a vicarage, valued at £8. 2. 6.: they are now united, and the present parish comprises 5251a. 1r. 25p., of which 3955 acres are arable, and 1244 meadow and pasture. The livings constitute one rectory, in the patronage of the Rev. Sir E. B. Smyth, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £1500, and the glebe comprises 17 acres, with a handsome house. The church is a venerable cruciform structure in the decorated English style, with a square embattled tower rising from the centre, and a porch of elegant design; it was repaired and beautified in 1844, at a cost of £1200. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans. The patron has allotted 24 acres of land to the poor, in small lots, for garden-ground; 57a. 2r. were also assigned to them at the time of the inclosure, and 20 acres for the repairs of the church. A house called the College-house occupies the site of the ancient college. There are two springs in the parish, slightly chalybeate.

Atwick (St. Lawrence)

ATWICK (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Skirlaugh, N. division of the wapentake of Holderness, E. riding of York, 2¼ miles (N. N. W.) from Hornsea; containing 300 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the east by the German Ocean, and comprises, with the manors of Arram and Skirlington, about 2186 acres, the soil of which is a stiff, but very fertile, clay. The surface begins to rise here in gentle undulations, and prepares the traveller for the hill and dale of the Wolds; the view towards Bridlington-Quay and Flamborough Head is beautiful. The village is situated near the sea, from whose encroachments it has occasionally sustained considerable damage; and it appears from measurements repeated for a series of years, that the sea gains from the land an average of three yards annually. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 7. 11., and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor, with a net income of £149; impropriator, B. O. Mitford, Esq. The tithes for the township of Atwick were commuted for 26a. 3r. of land and a money payment of £15, under an act in 1769; and under the recent act, the remaining tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £210. 11., of which £107 for the hamlet of Arram are not payable when the land is in the hands of the owner, it having been the property of the dissolved abbey of Meaux. The church formerly belonged to the priory of St. Mary, Bridlington, to which it was granted by the family of de Roos in the 12th century; it is situated at the extreme end of the village, upon rather elevated ground, and consists of a nave and chancel, with a small square embattled tower of brick, which last was built in 1829. A school has an endowment of £35 per annum. In the centre of the village stands a rude stone cross of great antiquity, with a Latin inscription upon its base, now nearly defaced; and near the church is ground bearing evidence of having been the site of a religious house; also a series of fish-ponds, and a "holy well," the water of which is inexhaustible, and of the greatest purity.

Atworth

ATWORTH, a tything and chapelry, in the parish of Great Bradford, union and hundred of Bradford, Westbury and N. divisions and Trowbridge and Bradford sub-divisions of Wilts, 4 miles (N. E. by N.) from Bradford; the tything containing 824 inhabitants. The chapel, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt a few years since: there is a second chapel at South Wraxall. The living is a perpetual curacy; income, £195; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Bristol.

Auborn (St. Peter)

AUBORN (St. Peter), a parish, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Boothby-Graffo, parts of Kesteven, union and county of Lincoln, 6¼ miles (S. W. by S.) from Lincoln; containing, with a part of the township of Haddington, 436 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 13. 10.; net income, £54; patron, the Rev. H. Neville. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Auburn, county of York.—See Fraisthorpe.

AUBURN, county of York.—See Fraisthorpe.

Auckland, Bishop

AUCKLAND, BISHOP, a market-town and chapelry, in the parish of St. Andrew, union of Auckland, N. W. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham, 10½ miles (S. W.) from Durham, and 252 (N. by W.) from London; containing 3776 inhabitants. This place, in common with others in the immediate vicinity, derives its name from the great number of oak-trees that formerly grew in the neighbourhood; and its prefix from a palace, in which the bishops of the diocese, who are lords of the manor, occasionally reside. The town, which is in the centre of the parish, is pleasantly situated on a considerable eminence, near the confluence of the rivers Gaunless and Wear, in a fertile district abounding with coal and limestone, and remarkable for the salubrity of the air. The streets are badly paved; the houses are well built, and the inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water. The palace, originally erected in the reign of Edward I. by Bishop Anthony Beck, and subsequently enlarged, was much injured by Sir Arthur Haslerigg, to whom it was sold by the Parliamentary Commissioners; but after the Restoration it was repaired by Bishop Cosin: it stands in a beautiful park to the north-east of the town, and is a spacious structure, surrounded with plantations and pleasure-grounds watered by the Gaunless. The chapel attached to the palace is a fine edifice in the early and decorated styles, built originally by Bishop Beck, and repaired about 1660 by Bishop Cosin, whose remains are deposited in it. The market is on Thursday; the fairs are in March and October, but on no fixed day. The Bishop-Auckland and Weardale railway, constructed chiefly for the conveyance of coal, and a few passengers, branches off from the Stockton and Darlington railway at Shildon, and passes near the town; it takes a course of eight miles, and terminates by a short branch in the township of Crook. It passes over numerous embankments and bridges in its progress, and through several tunnels, and various roads are carried over it: the embankment at Holdforth alone cost £11,000, and the line was completed at an expense of £96,000, of which £72,000 were raised in original shares, and the remainder by loan. In 1846 an act was passed for a line to the Lancaster and Carlisle railway in Westmorland. The county magistrates hold pettysessions monthly; and courts leet and baron are held annually, at the former of which a bailiff and other officers are appointed. The powers of the county debtcourt of Bishop-Auckland, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Auckland.

The chapel, dedicated to St. Anne, is small, and very inadequate to the purposes for which it was designed. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyans. The free grammar school was founded by James I., and is endowed with land, a house and garden for the master, and a rent-charge, producing an income of about £60 per annum; the management is vested in twelve governors, who are a body corporate, and have a common seal: the schoolroom, over which is St. Anne's chapel, was rebuilt in 1783. A school for twenty boys was founded by Mr. Walton, in 1772. A central school on Dr. Bell's system, for 200 children, was established in 1810, by Bishop Barrington, who also founded a school of industry for girls, in 1815. Almshouses for two men and two women were founded and endowed by Bishop Cosin, in the reign of Charles II.; the inmates are clothed every third year, and receive an allowance of about £15 per annum each.