Summary
Deer shelter, about 1760 For Bishop Richard Trevor. Gothic Revival style.
Reasons for Designation
The deer shelter in Auckland Castle deer park, about 1760 for Bishop Richard Trevor, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: a well-preserved example of a deer shelter in the form of a mock castle, that also forms a dramatic Gothic eyecatcher within the post-medieval landscaped park;
* Potential: the structure, including the archaeologically sensitive ground of the interior, will add to our knowledge of high-status stock management during the post-medieval period;
* Rarity: a typical component of a deer park, but a rare C18 example of unusual design, providing practical stock management combined with rooms to enjoy the view;
* Documentation: understanding of the monument's design and construction is enhanced by the survival of contemporary records, and more recent research;
* Historic: part of the Prince Bishops of Durham's hunting estate, which serves to illustrate an important aspect of post-medieval nobility's sport and pastimes;
* Group value: with the registered Auckland Castle Park, the listed Auckland Castle and numerous other listed buildings within the park.
History
Deer parks were areas enclosed for the management and hunting of deer and other wild animals, containing both woodland and grassland. Although a small number of parks may have been established in the Anglo-Saxon period, it was the Norman aristocracy's taste for hunting that led to the majority being constructed. The peak period for the laying-out of parks, between AD 1200 and 1350, coincided with a time of considerable prosperity amongst the nobility. From the C15 onwards few parks were constructed and by the end of the C17 the deer park in its original form had largely disappeared. Since they were enclosed, they also provided a protected area for other uses. One of their distinguishing characteristics in the medieval landscape, where much land was farmed communally, was their private nature. They were found in virtually every county in England but were densest in the midlands and south-east, and least so in the far north, south-west, East Anglia, and Lincolnshire. Parks frequently contained a range of buildings such as parker’s houses, hunting lodges, watchtowers, slaughterhouses and dower-houses some of which could be quite substantial. They are typically associated with high status sites.
Auckland Castle Park originated as a deer park for the Prince Bishops of Durham, probably in the C11 or C12, associated with their residence at Auckland Castle. The park had a herd of wild cattle until the C17 and there are records of successive restocking with deer. The park fell into decline during the Interregnum at which time the trees were cut down, but it was restocked, and the fishponds renewed by Bishop Cosin during the period 1660 to 1671. In 1750 Bishop Butler extended the park to take in areas of woodland and began renewing the pale and planting, operations which were interrupted by his death in 1752. He was succeeded by Bishop Trevor, who continued with the improvements, spending more than £8,000 on the Castle and park during the period 1752 to 1771.
In 1754 Bishop Trevor consulted the writer and landscape gardener Joseph Spence (1699-1768) for advice as to how the parkland could be enhanced. Spence produced a detailed sketch plan, which along with an earlier unattributed plan, depicts a keeper’s lodge and smaller separate deer shelter on Hawthorn Hill. Spence notes that the hill, which is a prominent vantage point, deserved 'a pretty temple', and in about 1760 the present deer shelter was built replacing the earlier more utilitarian buildings. Although the design has been attributed to both Sir Thomas Robinson (1702/3-1777) and local architect Thomas Wright (1711-1786) it is thought likely to be the work of Thomas Wright, an accomplished astronomer, mathematician architect and garden designer, who had strong connections to Bishop Auckland. Besides providing shelter and food for the park’s deer, the new deer shelter had space intended for enjoying the view and it provided a dramatic eye-catcher in the landscape.
The monument is also designated as a Grade I listed building and has been in the care of the state since 1952.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: deer shelter, about 1760 For Bishop Richard Trevor, probably to designs of Thomas Wright. Gothic Revival style.
DESCRIPTION: the monument is a deer shelter situated on raised ground within the former deer park of Auckland Castle. It is roughly rectangular and constructed of coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings. It includes four linked passages standing to about 2m high, arranged around a central, open lawned quadrangle. There is a central arched entrance to the north-east side and a central tower to the south-west side. It has crenelated outer walls with four-centre arched arcades, and there are four diagonal corner buttresses with pinnacles. The long south-east and south-west sides are each pierced by a 15-arch arcade, whose voussoirs rest on the impost mouldings of square piers. Above alternating arches there are blind cross-slits. The north-east side has a full-height central, pointed arched entrance with crocketed pinnacles on the flanking piers, and to either side is a six-arch arcade. The south-west side has a canted, crenelated ground-floor projection with pointed arched windows, flanked to either side by a six-arch arcade. Behind, rises a two-storey, crenelated and pinnacled tower, with a blind quatrefoil flanked by a blind cross slit to each of the first floor faces.
Within the interior solid, lower, inner walls create four linked passages (formerly roofed) forming deer shelters with cross arches to the corners, and a passage in the north-west side has an opening through its inner face giving access to the central quadrangle. It is considered that archaeological features and deposits relating to deer husbandary are preserved within the individual shelters and within the central quadrangle. Within the first floor of the tower there is a prospect room for enjoying the view.
AREA OF PROTECTION: this covers the full extent of the deer shelter including the archaeologically sensitive interior. It also contains a margin of 2m, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
