The Collegiate Churches of County Durham at the time of the Dissolution

When the Commissioners came to investigate those foundations dissolved under the provisions of the Act of 1547, there were in County Durham six institutions which could be described as collegiate churches. Of these, four were constituted in the ordinary way with a dean and prebendaries; Darlington, Chester-le-Street, Lanchester, and St. Andrews, Auckland; one was a chantry college attached to Staindrop Hospital; and one (Norton, near Stockton) preserved the antique constitution of eight portionaries amongst whom the endowment was equally divided.