A FASCINATING glimpse into centuries of Darlington’s past is provided by a new exhibition of fragments found as a new office block was being built on the site of the Bishop of Durham’s 12th Century palace.

The palace – or manor house – was on the banks of the River Skerne, directly behind the Town Hall. It was built by Bishop Hugh du Puiset, one of the great builder bishops of Durham, and, made of stone, it reached three storeys high, overshadowing the ordinary Darlingtonians in their low timber shacks.

At the same time, the bishop was lavishing a fortune on transforming the neighbouring St Cuthbert’s Church from a small Saxon chapel into the grand building we see today – the Lady of the North.

“He was spending a lot of money building an enormous manor house and a church next to the river, which has obvious drawbacks, and the big question must be why,” says archaeologist Niall Hammond who led the dig. He has arranged the exhibition at Darlington library and is giving a talk on the findings later this month.

Archaeology may be beginning to find the answer. In the early 1990s, when the Market Place was being restored, ancient burials were found beside the Boot and Shoe Inn, outside the consecrated ground of St Cuthbert’s churchyard. There were also suggestions that a mid to late Saxon wooden building – perhaps an early church – had once been there.

Now the dig on the Bishop’s Palace site has revealed earlier human activity there – a couple of trenches running east/west from Feethams to the river, and what appears to be a late 11th Century bread oven.

So the thinking is that the timber church was replaced in the 10th Century by a little stone church which de Puiset turned into a grand church in the 12th Century while he was upgrading whatever manor house he had inherited into a palace.

“His stone – magnesian limestone, fell sandstone, and red sandstone from the River Tees – comes from within ten to 15 miles,” says Niall, “and some of still has the limewash with coloured pigments on top of it.”

So could we be looking at the wall paintings that Bishop du Puiset saw 900 years ago? He was an immensely powerful man, a prince-bishop with almost royal authority and great military strength. He was one of the wealthiest men in England – his uncle, King Stephen, gave him the mineral rights to Weardale, and he stored his lead next to his palace. This is why the roadway between the Town Hall and St Cuthbert’s Church is known as the Leadyard.

The new education offices are on top of the palace’s ancillary buildings – the stables, the brewhouses, the bakeries and a large rectangular pond, dug in the 14th Century. It wouldn’t have been needed for fish or snails, because the fresh Skerne nearby would have provided them, so perhaps it was a stagnant water feature that was filled in during the 16th Century when it became smelly. Preserved in its mud were found old shoes and a horse’s head.

Despite the money du Puiset lavished on his Darlington palace, he didn’t real need another place to rest his head. His principle palaces were Auckland Castle and Durham Castle, and he had further residences at Bishop Middleham, Easington, Stockton and Evenwood, plus a hunting lodge at Stanhope, and then he built castles at Northallerton and Norham in Northumberland.

“It became an estate centre, where the town of Darlington was administered before the town hall was built,” says Niall. “It would have been permanently manned by a steward, and because Darlington is on the Great North Road, it became basically a posh travel lodge – people on the king’s business, rich guests, who were moving through the area all stay here.”

Because, though, it was surplus to requirements, it fell into decay in the 17th Century. In the early 19th Century much of it was demolished, and its 700-year-old carved stone was rather rudely used as foundations for a workhouse, foundations which survived the Victorian residential development that replaced the workhouse.

“We found 250 pieces of beautiful, largely Romanesque late 12th Century stonework and you can just about marry them up with the windows and doors on the pictures of the palace that survive,” says Niall.

To see some of the findings, the exhibition in the library runs until the end of March, and to hear more of Niall’s research, book now to hear his talk on March 24.

The historic heart of Darlington: Excavations on the site of the Bishop of Durham’s Manor House is a talk by Niall Hammond in Darlington library at 2pm on March 24. Tickets are £2 and should be booked by calling 01325-349630. The exhibition in the library runs until the end of March.

THE BISHOP'S PALACE TIMELINE

1153-1195

Bishop Hugh du Puiset built a three storey palace on the banks of the River Skerne, possibly on the site of an older manor house

July 19, 1503

Margaret, the 13-year-old daughter of Henry VII of England, slept in the palace on the way to meet her new husband, James IV of Scotland – her hand in marriage sealed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between the warring nations

1642-51

The palace was badly damaged during the English Civil War. Indeed, soldiers burst into it and murdered Lady Gerard, who was probably the daughter of the Bishop of Durham. Her spilled blood forever stained the whitewashed walls of the palace, and her ghost is Darlington’s most famous spectre. Her father, Bishop John Cosin, repaired the palace in the 1660s

1703

Bishop Nathaniel Crew allowed his rather derelict palace to be converted into a workhouse

1808

The south wing of the palace was demolished and replaced by a purpose-built workhouse, with segregated areas for boys, girls, adult males and females

June 1, 1870

117 paupers were transferred from the palace site to the new Darlington Union Workhouse which opened on Yarm Road

1878

The empty Leadyard workhouse and the remains of the Bishop’s Palace, including a chapel dedicated to St James, were demolished by Richard Luck, shopkeeper and mayor, who had a frightening encounter with the ghost of Lady Gerard during the demolition. In its place, Mr Luck built a residential square and terrace.

Late 1960s

Lucks Terrace and Lucks Square were demolished as the new Town Hall sprung up at the top of Leadyard. The site of the Bishop’s Palace was tarmac-ed into a car park

2013

Archaeological work on the site as construction of the Department for Education offices begins. Civil servants are currently moving from Mowden into their new home