Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/206

 mSTOBY. OF BISHOP AUCKLAl^D. 179 that the Wrens were in possession of the Hall in the year 1653, and we also find the following entries relating to the family in the Parish Begister : — 1676. — Sept. 23. — OertrudA, filia Carol! Wren, da Newton Cap, bar. 1682. — April 15. — Qolielmiiay filius Carol! Wren, de Newton Cap, annigr. It would also appear, from the following entries in the Begister for Burials, that there were other people of high family residing at Newton Cap : — 1662. — Jan. 13. — ^Peregrina, filia Franciaca Featherstonhalgli,* de Newton Cap. 1668 — Jon 6. — ^Maria Carr, de Newton Cap, gener. sepulta eiat. 1669.— Feb. 22.— Roger Cirr, de Newton Cap, gener. At what time or by what means Newton Cap Hall and the estate became the property of the Bacons (who were the last family of distinction who inhabited it), we have no record. They are said to have been descendants of Francis Lord Bacon, the great philosopher and statesman, who figured so largely in the reigns of Elizabeth and James. We extract the following entries relating to the family from the registers of St. Andrew's : — BAPTISED. 1711. — June 25. — Isabella, daughter of William Bacon, Esq., Newton Cap. 1712. — July 14.-- William, son of William Bacon, Esq., Newton Cap; 1714. — Feby. 12. — Thomas, son of William Bacon, Esq., Newton Cap. 1716. — April 16. — Margaret, daughter of William Bacon, Esq., Newton Cap. 1717. — July 27. — George, son of William Bacon, Gent., Newton Cap. 1720. — Augst 8. — James, filius William Bacon, de Newton Cap. 1758. — Sept. 14. — William, son of John William Bacon, Esq., Newton Cap. 1780. — ^Nov. 29. — William, son of William and Frances Bacon Foster, Newton Cap. 1789. — Jan. 17 — Charles Edward, son of John Bacon, Esq., Newton Cap. 1794.— April 23.— Richard, son of John Bacon Foster, Esq., of Newton Cap (bom Feby. 13th, 1794). MARRIED. Ferdinando Bacon Foster, Esq., and Mrs. Catharine Agnew, both of this parish — a lioenae. BURIED. 1780. — Jan. 25. — Lady Catharine, wife of William Bacon Foster, of Newton Cap. 1780.— April 18.— William Bacon Foster. The Bacon family are also thus alluded to in a poem quoted at page 62 : — Upon my left, the bridge with arched pomp Joins the divided lands, and proudly rears Its battlements above the streams of Wear ; On whose rich banks, deserted Newton Cap Mourns for the absent arts and sciences. Which by her lord deceased were there retained. If we may judge, however, from the fate of its last possessor, the family in him had sadly degenerated. He is said to have spent a life of reckless profligacy, run through his patrimony by gambling and other extravagances, and terminated his career by shooting himself in a room in the old Hall, a portion of the ruins of which is still standing. It is supposed (from the position in which he was found) that he had placed the muzzle of the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger with his foot The ball, after passing through his neck, made its way through a pane of glass in a staircase window, leaving a roimd hole the exact size of the bullet This pane was cut out from the window, and was in the possession of an old inhabitant of Bishop Auckland for many years. It was this member of the Bacon family who commenced the building of the new haU, which stood a little to the west of the old one, and which was left at his death in an unfinished state. Being at that time in embarrassed circumstances, his effects were all sold, and the estates of Newton Digitized by Google ^
 * Feathentonhalgh was aooonntant to Bikhop Conn.