Binchester, Durham
Historical Description
Binchester, a township in St Andrew-Auckland and Byers Green parishes, Durham, on the river Wear, adjacent to the Weardale railway, 1 mile N by E of Bishop-Auckland station on the N.E.R. Post town, Bishop-Auckland. Acreage, 596; population of Binchester, 53; of Byers Green, 2346; and of the ecclesiastical parish of Byers Green, 8505. The manor has belonged to the Wren family since the time of James I., and their mansion on it, a venerable building with wings, appears to have been built about the beginning of that king's reign. A spot on the brow of an eminence, commanding an extensive view, and now enclosed and cultivated, was the Roman station Binovium or Vinovium, and has yielded a great variety of Roman relics. The extent of the station was probably about 30 acres. The Roman Watling Street passed either through it or close on its western side.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | County Durham | |
Poor Law union | Auckland | |
Ward | Darlington |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Binchester from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Binchester)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for County Durham is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Binchester are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering county Durham online: