Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BRANCEPETH

BRANCEPETH, a township in Durham district, and a parish in Durham and Auckland districts, 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 office under Durham. Acres, 4,515. Real property, £7,180; of which £3,597 are in mines. Pop., 1,496. Houses, 266. The parish contains also the townships of Stockley, Willington, Brandon and Byshottles, Tudhoe, HedleyHope, Hemlington-Row, and Crook and Billy Row. Acres, 22,525. Real property, with Cornsay township, £75,151; of which £42,784 are in mines. Pop., 15,712. Houses, 2,893. The property is not much divided. 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 suite 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 coal and stone are worked. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £811.* Patron, R. E. D. Shafto, Esq. 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. The rectories of Willington and Crook, and the vicarage of Tudhoe, are separate benefices. There are three dissenting chapels, a R. Catholic Gothic one, and charities £42.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a township"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: County Durham AncC
Place: Brancepeth

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