Auckland Castle Trust

Charity Details

Full Name: The Auckland Castle Trust
Field: Arts, Culture and Heritage
Founded: 2011
Headquarters: Bishop Auckland, DL14 7NR
Charity No: 1146219

History and Activities

The Auckland Castle Trust was established in 2011. It exists to preserve and promote Auckland Castle. Its ambitious, far-sighted vision is to “To transform Auckland Castle into a faith, art and heritage destination of international significance, reinvigorating the town of Bishop Auckland and the wider area through social and economic regeneration”. The philanthropic mastermind behind the project is Jonathan Ruffer (b. 1951), co-founder in 1994 of the London based investment management business now called Ruffer LLP.

Dating from the 12th century, the Castle was for centuries the seat of successive Bishops of Durham and it remains the administrative hub of the Durham Diocesan Board of Finance. It sits in 800 acres of parkland originally used for hunting by church leaders. The so-called prince bishops of Durham, uniquely in England, had powers within their realm over secular as well as religious affairs. From the 1600s onwards they used part of their increasing wealth to create a lavish palace that reflected their quasi-royal status. This tendency was abruptly curbed following the reform of the Church of England finances in the mid-1830s.

In 2012, ownership of the castle passed into the hands of The Auckland Castle Trust, established by Jonathan Ruffer, a wealthy businessman with a passion for religious art. Large donations, running into tens of millions of pounds, have since been made by Ruffer and his charitable trust Lempriere Pringle, with lesser but still significant donations being made by the Heritage Lottery Fund (£347,000), the Headley Trust (£250,000) and the Linbury Trust (£250,000). At the end of the 2016/17 financial year, the trust had cash-in-hand of £31 million in readiness for building work scheduled for completion in 2018/19. A visitor centre named Auckland Tower, 29 meters high and offering fantastic views of the town and surrounding countryside, is due to open in October 2018.

What is now known as the Auckland Project, for the restoration of the castle and the regeneration of the town, is exceptional in its scale and ambition. Jonathan Ruffer and his wife Jane have not only ploughed in the necessary funds but also they have given the project heart and soul, inspired by their faith and by history. They see the bigger picture and have the fortitude, humility and wit needed to succeed. Here is a snippet from Jonathan, writing in the trust’s annual report for 2016/17, which amusingly encapsulates his viewpoint:

There is the inevitable tornado of good things emerging, worrisome things breaking upon us —but the sum total of these is that we are on course. We are much visited by Mr Ivor Delay, and his country cousins, Mr and Mrs Cost Overrun, but these have been addressed without compromise to our core offering. Certainly our attitude to Mr Delay is that for a plan which will last decades, delays in implementation are vanishingly unworrying.

This large-minded approach is characteristic, extending to the perspective on wealth holding taken by Jonathan and Jane Ruffer, who, like Andrew Carnegie, believe that large fortunes should be put to work for the many not preserved for the indulgence of the few.

Vital Statistics (year to 31/03/2017)

Website
https://www.aucklandproject.org/

References