Tour of Northern England
Effigy of Robert Neville at Brancepeth Church. Died 1319. This evening, I am reprising a small group, one-day tour of sites in northern England. The weather was characterised by unseasonally low temperatures, rain and a hint of snow in mid-afternoon. We departed our lodgings in York after breakfast and drove north to the village of Brancepeth in County Durham.Prime purpose of this visit was to connect with the formerly prominent Neville family. We parked close to the huge castle which is still privately owned, not a visitor attraction, and then visited the adjacent parish church dedicated to St Brandon. Brancepeth Castle, England St Brandon’s Church was a typical Church of England Parish Church, dating back to Saxon times but mainly from 12th-15th centuries.Unfortunately, the building suffered massive fire damage in 1998 and came within a whisker of total destruction. However, the church was able to be sympathetically rebuilt, at cost of GBP3.2m, a project which ...