Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/137

 110 HISTORY OF BISHOP AUCKLAND. Durham, Esquire, and George Walton, of the same place, Gentleman, lately deceased, by their indenture dated the 20th day of February, in the sixth year of the reign of our Lord King James, enrolled as of record in the Chancery at Westminster, and in as ample manner and form as the said John Richardson gave and granted the aforesaid* Chapel or Guild to the said Reverend Father, his heirs and assigns, by his f eoffinent in writing, bearing date the third day of December, in the eleventh year of the reign of our Lord Charles, the now King, To have and to hold the aforesaid ecclesiastical house, or Ludum Idterarium, and all other the premises with their appmts., unto the said Lindley Wren, William D'Arcy, Francis Wren, Richard Lilburn, Anthony Trotter, John Calverley, Henry Bayles, Oswald Glover, and Richard Comforth, the governors of the goods, possessions, and reversions of the said free school, and their successors, to the proper use and behoof of the aforesaid Governors of the Goods, Possessions, and Revenues, of the said free school, and their successors for ever, to hold of our Lord King Charled, his heirs and successors, as of his manor of East Greenwich, in the County of Kent, by fealty only, in free and common socage, and not in capite or by knights' service, rendering therefore by the year to our said Lord King Charles, his heirs and successors, or to his Receiver General for the County of Durham, two solidi of legal money of England, at the Feasts of St. Michael the Archangel and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by equal portions, for all other services and demands whatsoever, from thenceforth to be rendered or paid. And I, the aforesaid Bishop, and my heirs, all that the ecclesiastical house, or Ludum Idterarium, and all other the premises by the above presents granted, with their appmts., to the aforesaid Lindley Wren, William D'Arcy, Francis Wren, Richard Lilburn, Anthony Trotter, John Calverley, Henry Bayles, Oswald Glover, and Richard Comforth, the governors, &c., and their successors, against us and our heirs, will warrant and for ever defend by these presents. In testimony whereof I have to this my present writing placed my seal. Given at my Castle of Durham the 17th day of April, in the fourteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord 1638. THO. L.a DUNELM. The chapel was again rebuilt, by subscription, during Bishop Egerton's time, in 1781 ; the ground floor being set apart for the Grammar School, and a Justice-room, in which the magistrates of those days held their courts. To the chapel itself was assigned an upper room.* A few years after this. Bishop Barrington built a square tower at the west end, with decorated pinnacles, the lower part of which was converted into a market-house ; the ancient " Cross," as already stated, having been previously pulled dowiL These buildings were again removed in 1847, and the present chapel built upon their site, from a design by Mr. Salvin. We give the following from the minute book of St. Ann's respecting the last rebuilding : — At a meeting of the inhabitants of Bishop Auckland, held in the Qrammar School, on the 30th day of December, 1845, for the purpose of taking into consideration the means of increasing the accommodation in St. Ann's Chapel, it was resolved — 1. That in consequence of the great want of accommodation for the parishioners generally in St. Ann's Chapel, some immediate steps ought to be taken to remedy this inconvenience, and that the most effectual remedy for the purpose would be to enlarge, or to re-build and enlarge, the present chapel : the consent of the pew owners having been previously obtained for the removal of their pews, on the conditions stated in an agreement drawn up and signed by them, dated December 24th, 1845. 2. That, in order to effect in the most advantageous and convenient manner, the offer from the governors of the Grammar School, of the site of the present school-room, be accepted for the uses of the chapel ; the offer having been made on the following conditions, viz. : — ^That a new site be purchased in some convenient locality, to be approved of by a committee of the governors appointed for that purpose, at a general meeting held by them on Wednesday, December 24th, 1845 ; and also that suitable and commodious buildings be erected thereon, and be conveyed to the said governors for the purposes of the school. 3. That a committee be appointed to carry out the foregoing resolutions, and that they have full powier and authority, under the sanction of the Lord Bishop of Durham, to carry into execution such plan or plans for the proposed alterations in the chapel as they, or a majority of them, may deem necessary and most eligible. That the different individaals who had liberally rabecribed to its restoration. In oorroboration, we append the following from the minute book of that day :— '*The pew in St Ann's Chapel, in Bishop Auckland, marked No. 10, is, by the Chapel Uommitt^ allotted and assigned to, and 18 the property o^ Mnu Wren, having paid the sum of six pounds and 15e., the prioe affixed to it by the said oommifetee^ as witness our hands this 21i^ day of June, 1783. Ka. Bowskr. H. Hildtabd. A. Smith. John Bacon. WiLLM. Emm. Willm. Banks.'* WiLLM. Todd. Digitized by Google
 * At the rebuilding of St. Ann's, at the above date, the varions pews and private rittings seem to have been appropriated to