Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/78

 THE PARK. Justly proud as we are of " our" Park — for ours it has for all practical purposes become, by the kindness of the several Prelates who have, of late years, resided here — ^we cannot but remember that we are in the centre of a " black" country, and it would be idle to say — " There is not, in the wide world, a valley so sweet As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet ;" or, that the place is so beautiful that any attempt to describe it would be To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet. To smooth the ice, or add another hue Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light To seek the beauteons eye of heaven to garnish. Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. But this may be truly said of Auckland Park It is, to the inhabitants who know how to appreciate and use it aright, an oasis where all may be refreshed and gladdened. To visit the Park on a fine morning in the early part of June, when the rest of the busy world is wrapped in slumber — ^to taste the sweet perfume of its many hawthorns (some of the most beautiful to be found in Britain) — ^to listen to the gushing melody poured from a thousand little throats, nestltug in the branches of its old oaks, " whose boughs are mossed with age, and high tops bald with dry antiquity,'' and beneath whose shades the Monks of old, no doubt, have oft recited their ofl&ces — ^to feel the fresh breeze of the morning, laden with the scent of the many flowers that bedeck and variegate its terraces, and undulating surface — ^is sufficient to rouse the dormant raptures of the most unimagina- tive, and to call forth a word of admiration from the most tasteless. Or, again, to see it when autumn has mellowed and softened down its rich summer tints to the more sober hues of the former season, with its twenty thousand visitors scattered over its green expanse, whilst one of the best military bands in the kingdom is rendering some sweet melody, is a treat not easUy forgotten. But from sentiment we descend to history. The Park is first mentioned in the Boldon Buke as early as the year 1181. In its pages it is stated that the "Monk-Cook'' (whose office seems now unknown), " holds, at the will of the Bishop, for his services, one acre and a half, which William Scott and Alston and William Boie held, and within the Park and without nineteen acres and a half of improvable land, and ten acres of land not improvable." In 1208, this same person gave, by charter, to the Convent of Durham, eighteen acres, supposed to be the sloping banks immediately beneath the walls of the Castle, between the Gaunless and the Wear. The following is a translation of that curious old Monkish document, the original of which is still preserved in the Dean and Chapter Library at Durham : — To all the Monks greeting. Enow that I have granted to Qod and the Monks of Durham, whom I appoint my heirs, one Toft and one Croft in the vill of Auckland, with thirty-one acres of land in the town field to the same vill, which Hugh, formerly Bishop of Durham, gave to me for homage service. Thirteen acres of which lie between Blinderwell and land of Robert the Falconar, which Philip, formerly Bishop of Durham, gave to me in exchange for thirteen acres enclosed within his Park, and eighteen acres in the HaUiam, between the Wear and Qaunless. To hold yielding to the Bishop of Durham annually, one pound of pepper at the feast of St. Cuthbert, as I am quit of this rent. The condition of this grant is, that they pray for my soul, and the soul of my Lord Hugh, formerly Bishop of Durham. In witness to this Richard the PHest, Walter the Priest, Robert the Bailiff of Pollard, Henry Pairing, Robert of Goundou, Robert of Evenwood, William the Tanner, William the Mower, Robert the Cook, and others. Raine says — " The Charter of Bishop Pudsey, of which the Monk-Cook speaks above, mentions the old fish pond, and, therefore, goes fax to confirm the conjecture that Auckland had been an Digitized by Google —