FOR four centuries, the secrets of a bishop’s palace have lain hidden beneath grassy lumps and bumps in a field overlooking the wetlands of the River Skerne, but this summer, for the first time, archaeologists have been probing those lumps and bumps to see if they will yield the secrets.

The Northern Echo: A young archaeologist shows off a piece of medieval pottery found at Bishop Middleham during the summer. Picture courtesy of Dig VenturesA young archaeologist shows off a piece of medieval pottery found at Bishop Middleham during the summer. Picture courtesy of Dig Ventures

“We found an absolutely beautiful carved base of a window, beautiful filigrees and traceries, and it was only a portion of what was once there,” says Lisa Westcott-Wilkins of the Barnard castle-based archaeologists Dig Ventures excitedly. She carried out the excavations at Bishop Middleham, near Sedgefield, with volunteer community archaeologists.

The Northern Echo: The centre of Bishop Middleham village in 1967 – the lower land still seems to form a moat around the castle and the church which was on higher groundThe centre of Bishop Middleham village in 1967 – the lower land still seems to form a moat around the castle and the church which was on higher ground

“It confirms that this was a very high status residence but it is much bigger than was previously thought – the earthworks radiate outwards into the fields nearby.”

From Norham in Northumberland to Northallerton in North Yorkshire, the Bishop of Durham once had about 18 palaces, castles, manor houses and hunting lodges which he called home.

The Northern Echo: Bishop Middleham church in 1970Bishop Middleham church in 1970

His principal residences were the palaces of Auckland and Durham, but he also toured his diocese, staying at his other abodes, enjoying the local sport and making sure the people saw how he was the top man.

Individual bishops had individual preferences, and so the out-houses rise and fall in favour and importance over the centuries.

They tired of their house at Bishop Middleham, near Sedgefield, in the 14th Century, and abandoned it completely after 1649 and, with the aid of willing local hands, it fell down.

“Bishop Middleham Castle has had very little work on it,” says David Mason, the principal archaeologist for Durham County Council who oversaw the work on behalf of the Brightwater project. “It was a fortified manor house which had largely disappeared by 1700 and a lot of the stone was carted off to be used elsewhere.

“The remains of substantial buildings were uncovered, buildings which had been thoroughly dismantled. There were the usual green glazed medieval pottery pieces and also a sizeable fragment of tracery window surround, a very nice piece of carved stone, which was part of one of the chapels on the site.”

The Northern Echo: Some of the walls the community archaeologists found at Bishop Middleham. Picture courtesy of Dig VenturesSome of the walls the community archaeologists found at Bishop Middleham. Picture courtesy of Dig Ventures

The fragment is from about the 12th Century, when Bishop Middleham was at its peak. For 250 years, the house was important to successive bishops, from Ranulf Flambard (who reigned from 1099 to 1128) who made his “base son” the first rector of Bishop Middleham, to Richard de Bury (1333-45) who is recorded as having distributed 100 shillings to the people as he journeyed from Durham to the castle.

For about 50 years, Middleham may even have been successive bishops’ main residence – Bishop Robert de Insula died there in 1283 and Bishop Richard Kellaw passed away there “in the lesser chamber” in 1316.

The Northern Echo: Archaeology at Bishop Middleham. Picture courtesy of Dig VenturesArchaeology at Bishop Middleham. Picture courtesy of Dig Ventures

“The reasons which led to this preference are obvious,” wrote the Durham historian Robert Surtees in 1820. “Defended by a morass on two sides, and by broken ground to the north, the fortress presented an almost impregnable stronghold during the wars of the border, whilst Auckland lay bare and defenceless, on the direct route of Scottish invasion.”

So perhaps the bishops found safety at Middleham from the rampaging Scots in a landscape that is very different from today. Hundreds of years ago, the Skerne meandered all over the place, creating broad wetlands out of which rose inhabitable islands – the bishop’s nearest neighbour was Island Farm, whose name suggests it was high enough for the farmer to keep his feet dry, and the castle and church may themselves have been surrounded by water with the modern village of Bishop Middleham inundated. Since the bishops’ day, the Skerne has been canalised and the carrs have drained to create an agricultural landscape.

The Northern Echo: Prime Minister Tony Blair visiting the Time Team excavation at East Park, Sedgefield, in 2002. He is looking into a kiln, the most exciting find on the site which showed that there was industrial work going on there in the 2nd CenturyPrime Minister Tony Blair visiting the Time Team excavation at East Park, Sedgefield, in 2002. He is looking into a kiln, the most exciting find on the site which showed that there was industrial work going on there in the 2nd Century

It looks as if the bishops’ residency at Middleham came to an end after the 1346 Battle of Neville’s Cross cleared out the Scots.

Surtees was in doubt about why the bishops moved out. From the castle, they had “a wide and probably dreary view over the level country as far as the course of the Tees…it is no wonder that in after-times Middleham was deserted for the green glades of Auckland”.

When they went, the local farmers pillaged the castle – there is probably a barn somewhere in the Sedgefield area that has the other half of the beautiful 12th Century window built into it. All they left was the lumps and bumps which this summer were explored for the first time in hundreds of years.

“We haven’t found the central residence yet, so we don’t know what the buildings were used for, but we found lots of walls,” says Lisa. “There was a wall that went nowhere and there was another that wasn’t joined up to anything, and there was a mystery doorway – it was quite bizarre.

“What we’ve found shows that the castle was much larger, much more extensive, and much more grand than had been previously thought.”

Next summer’s excavations might reveal how extensive and how grand the bishop’s castle at Middleham once was.

Dig Ventures has also been working for the Brightwater project, which is a £3.3m lottery-funded scheme to rejuvenate the landscape of the Skerne, at East Park, Sedgefield, this summer, again with local people volunteering to do the digging.

East Park is between the modern village (or is it a small town?) of Sedgefield and Hardwick Hall. It first came to prominence about 15 years ago, when television’s Time Team discovered that a lost Roman road – Cades Road – runs through the fields to the west of Sedgefield where evidence of a substantial Roman era settlement was discovered.

The Northern Echo: Bishop Middleham church in 1970Bishop Middleham church in 1970

“It’s like a large village,” says Dr Mason. “It’s not crammed full of buildings – these are dispersed buildings, with about 1,000 people living there – Binchester, the biggest Roman settlement in our area, had 2,000 to 3,000 people.”

This settlement is unique in the North-East in that it has only wooden buildings, no stone ones, and it is purely civilian – there is no evidence of any military usage. It dates from 120AD to 250AD, and as Cades Road runs from the Humber up to Hadrian’s Wall, via Middleton One Row, Sadberge and Chester-le-Street, the thought is that East Park was the Roman equivalent of an Amazon fulfilment centre. It was the gathering point for local produce, with some industry such as ceramics and ironworking taking place on site, and from Sedgefield the garrisons on the wall were supplied with whatever they desired.

This summer’s excavations have concentrated on a mysterious ditch. “Ditches are great for archaeologist because lots of stuff falls into them and when we find it we can work out what was going on,” says Ms Westcott-Wilkins. “We found some good stuff – coins, pottery, a cremation urn with bits of bone inside, but nothing supersexy.”

However, this did prove that the ditch was from the Roman era. “We think it was a formal boundary,” says Dr Mason. “The Romans were very keen on the jurisdictional part of life so it marked that certain rules and regulations applied to people living within it.”

More excavations are planned for next year at East Park.

“There are rumours that more substantial buildings were found in the 1970s when the housing estate on the edge of Sedgefield was built and covered over, so we may look at that, and we will probably sample another of these enclosures in which people were living,” says Dr Mason.

If you fancy being involved in the digs, go to digventures.com and/or discoverbrightwater.com where there is more information and you can sign up for newsletters which will contain the details as they become available.