The North East Again - Bishops, Pitmen and Romans

I’d originally planned to spend time in Bishop Auckland itself on Monday but then found the Wensleydale Railway was operating the full line so plans changed and I went today. Some things I’d visited before, some were new, and some had a different perspective. 

After a coffee in the town hall cafe and buying my pass the first visit was to the Faith Museum (one of the new attractions), this was partly because I was advised it was a good time between school parties. It tells the story of religion in Britain from the prehistoric through to the present day, obviously with a Christian focus but not neglecting other faiths. There are some interesting artefacts and they do a good job bringing things to life. The only area I didn’t really entirely get was the modern art section - a lot of surrealism that defies the stated meaning to me. 

After negotiating my way back to the main entrance I toured round the Castle itself, the former Palace of the Prince Bishops of Durham. 

It’s spectacular in many places but I struggle to see the relevance of much of the artwork. I did have a discussion about this with one of the guides, an art expert, and in the end we agreed there are two sides to the argument but we both couldn’t help thinking the money could have been much better spent elsewhere, on the other hand it’s now bringing in tourists and is instrumental to the regeneration of the town (it was the proposed sale of the art collection by the Church that started the Auckland Project). 

The stained glass windows tell the story of St Cuthbert. His remains were carried from Lindisfarne by the monks after the Vikings sacked the monastery, here they’re planning the building of Durham Cathedral.

The next visit was to the Mining Art Gallery which I think has improved and expanded since my last visit. As it’s in what is basically a house getting the scooter round was tricky in places but I managed. Most of the pictures were produced by miners, often painting after work as part of Workers Educational Association classes such as the Ashington Group, known as The Pitmen Painters. The pictures in the gallery are probably the best examples, certainly some I’ve seen elsewhere are much more naive. As I’m changing pictures at home I came away with a print which will be framed and hung when I get back. 

After a sandwich for lunch I loaded the scooter back in the car and drove the short distance to Binchester Roman Fort; this was run by the County Council but was absorbed into the Project this year. The Fort’s claim to fame is that it was substantially larger than both Housesteads and Vindolanda, however a lot less still remains. The bathhouse is the best preserved building, with some fairly intact hypocaust, it was worth going but there’s some repairs and improvement needed. 

Underfloor heating - Roman style!

Throughout the day, and indeed all week, I’ve had a lot of assistance from the staff and volunteers at the various venues - I have sent an email to The Auckland Project saying thank you, I realise my bigger scooter is really on the limits for some places size wise, and I’ve had to get off and lift the back end round a couple of times, but I know I’d have really struggled to do everything with the smaller one.