Gateway, Auckland Castle
By: shortfinals
Tags: 13th century, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland, British Isles, castle, City of Durham, clock, clocktower, conferences, County Durham, design elements, ecclesiastical seat, gateway entrance, Gothic Revival, hunting lodge, official residence of the Bishop of Durham, Prince-Bishop, Queen Victoria, See of Durham, southwest of Durham, sumptuous apartments, temporal power, Victorian, Victorian Gothic, weathervane, weddings
Category: British Isles, Castles, England, Great Britain, Royalty
| Aperture: | f/5 |
|---|---|
| Focal Length: | 13.9mm |
| ISO: | 100 |
| Shutter: | 1/0 sec |
| Camera: | MVC-CD500 |
Auckland Castle, gateway
In the 13th century, the See of Durham was easily one of the most powerful ecclesiastical seats in the British Isles. The Prince-Bishops exercised immense temporal power, too. A hunting lodge for the See was built to the south-west of the city of Durham at Auckland, and a town (named after the Bishopric) grew up around it. The lodge grew into a castle, and became the official residence of the Bishop of Durham. Queen Victoria stayed here, and some of the sumptuous apartments are used to host conferences, and celebrate weddings and other events.
Guarding the entrance to the grounds is a classical Victorian gatehouse. There are various common design elements on view here, from trefoils to a parapet with battlements, to crocketted pinnacles. The gatehouse is topped by a short clocktower.
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