In 2012 Auckland Castle, the former home of the Bishops of Durham, was taken over by trust fund. Plans have been unveiled to turn the Castle into a major new touristic hotspot in Northern England.

Auckland Castle was the medieval palace of the Prince Bishops of Durham from 1183. These were powerful men who, in effect, represented the monarch in this part of the country.

The original building was a manor house or hunting lodge constructed by Bishop Pudsey in the late 1100s. Around 100 years later, Bishop Bek established Auckland Castle. He preferred to live here rather than at Durham Castle because of the vast hunting grounds. By now, the king had granted the Bishop of Durham immense power: he was the Prince Bishop, a strong ally to protect the rest of England from Scottish marauders.

The Prince Bishop controlled this part of North East England, and Auckland Castle was the seat of power. He could raise money from taxes, mint his own coins, lead his own army and even establish his own parliament. As long as he remained loyal to the king, the Prince Bishop would continue to be one of the most powerful political and military men in the country.

The 17th Century saw Auckland Castle become the home to Bishop Cosin; a large part of what can be see today is the result of his renovation and foresight. For example, the original banqueting hall was renovated and turned into the magnificent chapel, which rates as the largest private chapel in Europe.

Although the power of the Prince Bishops declined in more recent times, Auckland Castle remained as the official home of the Bishop of Durham until 2010. However, in 2012 ownership to the Castle and its collection of paintings, the Deer Park and the Gardens were transferred to The Auckland Charitable Trust by its saviour, Jonathan Ruffer. The Trust’s ambitions are high – and if we are to achieve them we will need to raise well over £10m to fund the restoration and redevelopment of the site.

Auckland Castle in the Future

The plan is to restore, repair, redevelop and reinterpret the castle, gardens and park to provide inspiring experiences for 130,000 visitors each year and generate over 100 full and part-time jobs plus inject £3 million into the local economy.

Secondly, the aim is to create an exhibition telling the history of the religions in the British Isles and exploring the experience of faith.This part of the project recently won £9m of Heritage Lottery Funding to create a permanent series of galleries. One of these will be a specific exhibition of 17th century religious art with the famous Zurburán pictures at their centre, one of the most appealing features of the castle. Auckland owns all but one of the Spanish artist’s cycle of portraits of Jacob and his 12 sons. A copy stands in its place, and the 13 canvases, which stand eight feet tall, have been one of the artistic highlights of the north east for more than 250 years. They were bought in 1756 and still hang in the dining room that was specially built for them.

Religious faith as well as religious art may have turned deeply unfashionable in a world, which is being invaded by Jihadists bent on marketing their totalitarian beliefs through never-ending orgies of blood and violence. This, however, has not stopped the self-professed Evangelical Christian cum Wolf of Wall Street, Jonathan Ruffer, to invest his wealth in taking a stand. Jonathan Ruffer is a dedicated Christian with a contemplative side to his character. According to his own admission, an Ignatian retreat in Wales inspired him to find a way to work for the “deprived”.

Accordingly, the third part of the plan is to create a proactive, dynamic education centre with an extensive library to enable study by children and students of all ages as well as work engage with the community to make the Castle a natural centre for community activity.

As the bishop will continue to have his offices at Castle Auckland, the aim is to create both a living and working complex as well as preserving the traditional practice of prayer in a spiritually uplifting atmosphere.

It is a fundamental ambition of the Trust that this project will secure a viable and sustainable future for the Castle, and in achieving this secure the castle as a source of economic and social regeneration for Bishop Auckland, Weardale and the wider region.

Historic Festaval al la Puy du Fou

A parallel project is thus to turn Auckland Castle into a galvanizing centre for the local community. Sometime in the future, the plan is to develop part of the estate into a historical leisure park. Inspiration is the hugely successful Puy du Fou in France.

In its first phase a series of spectacular re-enactments of Viking invasions, Roman gladiatorial combats and the like is being marketed as part of a historical festival, called Kynren.

Taking its name from the Anglo-Saxon word for generation, Kynren hopes to take up to 8,000 spectators on a journey through 2,000 years of British history, from the Roman and Viking invasions through to the industrial revolution and the WW2. The hope is to generate £9 mill turnover in the local community; All profits made from the show, which is a registered charity, will be used to fund the project’s education and community development initiatives, with a view to being a catalyst for social and economic regeneration in the region.

While the castle of Auckland is thus scheduled to become a serious – and perhaps – more traditional exhibition venue, it appears the Kynren festival is much less preoccupied with historical veracity. Kynren will obviously be as much about spectacle as it is educational. However, it is likely that it will help rejuvenate the local tourist economy and raise the economic and social prospects of a part of England, which is one of the most downtrodden and deprived. The hope is that more shows will be staged in 2017 and that eventually the site will become a permanent theme park a la Puy du Fou in Western France. In the end, though, the aim is the same: to revive a local community and a region lost in transition from its industrial past and into modernity.

SOURCE:

Official website of Auckland Castle

Kynren – an epic tale of England