Bishop-Auckland — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Bishop-Auckland, a town in the county, and 9½ miles SW. of the city, of Durham, stands on an eminence 140 feet above the confluent Wear and Gauness. Its abbey-like palace of the bishops of Durham was founded about 1300 by Bishop Antony Bek, and rebuilt by Bishop Cosin shortly after the Restoration. The town-hall is a handsome edifice of 1863, with a spire 100 feet high. There are cotton-mills, engineering-works, and large neighbouring collieries. Pop. (1851) 4400; (1861) 6480; (1881) 10,097; (1891) 10,527.