View source for Auckland Castle Deer House

[[File:Auckland Castle 013.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Auckland Castle Deer House]]
{{county|County Durham}}
'''Auckland Castle Deer House''' stands on a promontory within the park of [[Auckland Castle]] in [[County Durham]], a park that was once a deer park for the Bishops of Durham.  It is a large, castellated deer shelter, built in 1760:  it has now been placed in the care of [[English Heritage]] and has a viewing room for visitors.

==History==
While managed deer parks have been part of rural life since the Middle Ages, deer shelters are unusual. That at Auckland Castle is a Georgian whimsy, a Gothic Revival building built as much as a delight for the eye.  It was built in about 1760, probably designed by Thomas Wright, for Richard Trevor, who served as Bishop of Durham from 1752 to 1771.  It provided a feeding place and shelter for the deer in his park, as well as providing rooms in which the bishop and his guests could picnic, enjoy the views of the park and take a rest from hunting.

==Description==
The building is almost square, comprising a courtyard, where the deer were fed, surrounded by an arcade that was once roofed with slates. In the centre of the north side is an arched gateway, flanked by square pilasters, and on the south side is a two-storey tower, its first-floor room overlooking the interior. 

The deer house is a rare and well-preserved example of 18th century Gothic Revival architecture, a style which only came into its own in the next century, but just like the Victorian Gothic, it was a fanciful interpretation of the style of mediæval buildings seen at its best in the great churches of the Middle Ages.  At Auckland the Deer House is in the form of a mock castle with battlements, arrow loops, pinnacles and pointed arches.

==Outsidde links==
*{{EH link}} – English Heritage

[[Category:English Heritage sites in County Durham]]