Bernard Gilpin, an English ecclesiastic, born in Kentmire, Westmoreland, in 1517, died in Houghton, Durham, in 1583. He was educated at Oxford, became a convert to Protestantism after a disputation with Peter Martyr, and in 1552 was made vicar of Norton in the diocese of Durham. On the accession of Mary he went abroad for three years. On his return his uncle, Dr. Tunstall, bishop of Durham, appointed him his archdeacon, and gave him the living of Houghton, of which he remained rector till his death, declining the bishopric of Carlisle, which was offered to him by Queen Elizabeth. His parish and the neighboring neglected parishes, which he regularly visited, comprised a wild rugged district on the Scottish border, whose inhabitants, from centuries of marauding warfare, were in a half savage state. He went fearlessly among them, and by his preaching and benevolence acquired great influence over them. He preached so boldly against the vices of the times, and especially of the clergy, that complaints were made against him successively to the bishop of Durham and the bishop of London. He built and endowed a grammar school in his parish for the instruction of the children of the poor, and regularly educated at his own house 24 lads of promise whom he ultimately sent to the university.

His life has been written by George Carleton (London, 1628), and by William Gilpin (London, 1751).