Bishop Auckland 1857
ISBN 1-903004-28-4
Size 500mm x 645mm
Uncoloured size 600mm x 774mm

The town shown on the map can hardly be called such being not much larger than the mediaeval market village it emerged from. The village was founded on the banks of the River Wear just south of the old roman fort Binchester, the name still commemorated in Binchester Plantation, and on the roman road Dere Street, still discernable running into the town from the south, and today the main commercial and shopping street. The town's prominence and later development was guaranteed by three important influences evident on the map, Auckland Castle, the seat of the Bishop of Durham since the 13th century, its position on the Durham coalfield and associated collieries and its recent connection to the railway system as a main junction of the North Eastern and Stockton Darlington Railways.