Brancepeth, Durham

Description
Brancepeth, a village a township, and a parish in Durham. The township lies on the river Wear and on the Durham and Bishop-Auckland railway, 4 miles SW of Durham, and has a station on the railway, and a post (R.S.O.) and telegraph office under Brandon Colliery, which is the money order office. Acreage of township, 3750; population, 407; of the ecclesiastical parish, 511. The parish contains also the townships of Brandon and Byshottles, and Stockley. Brancepeth Castle was erected in the reign of Stephen by the family of Bulmer, passed to the Nevills and the Russells, and belongs now in right of his wife to Viscount Boyne. It was rebuilt in 1821, but retains much of its prior appearance, and is a massive and splendid edifice. A suit of rich armour, said to have been taken from David Bruce of Scotland at Nevill's Cross, is in the entrance hall, and a fine collection of antiquities and paintings is in the rooms. The grounds and the adjacent country are picturesque. Coal beds and sulphur springs occur, and there are several large collierles in the parish. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham; net value, £516. Patron, Viscount Boyne. The church is ancient and cruciform, has an Early English tower and Later English chancel and clerestory, and contains ancient stall-work and chancel-screen, an ancient carved chest, and a fine canopied font.