BISHOP AUCKLAND, urban district, Durham, England, m. S.S.W. of the city of Durham, the junction of several L.N.E.R. branch lines. Pop. (1931) 12,269. It is situated on high ground near the confluence of' Wear and Gaunless. The parish church at Auckland St. Andrews is Early English. The fine palace of the bishops of Durham stands at the north-east end of the town; its site was first chosen by Bishop Anthony Beck, in the time of Edward I., and it is surrounded by a park of 800 acres. On the Wear m. above Bishop Auckland there is a small, probably 7th century church at Escomb, massively built and tapering upward; some stones are from a Roman building, one bearing an inscription. These, no doubt, came from Binchester, a short distance up stream, where remains of a Roman fort (Vinovia) are traceable. It guarded the great Roman north road from York to Hadrian's Wall. Bishop Auckland men are em ployed in the neighbouring collieries and ironworks.