Our English Kin
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Brancepeth Village & Castle
Brancepeth is a village and civil parish in County Durham, in northeastern England. It is situated in the southern Wear River Valley about five miles southwest of the city of Durham. The village was founded many centuries ago and lies completely within the estate of Brancepeth Castle. Members of the Burlison/Burlinson family lived nearby and are shown on the church's parish register.
The Brancepeth Story
(from https://stbrandon.org.uk/brancepeth-history/)
Every village with an ancient church has a history, but the history of this village is not confined to the local scene. Three rectors were chaplains to Kings of England, one was a cabinet minister, and several were involved in national intrigues. The then lord of the manor, the last Earl of Westmorland, led the Rising of the North; an earlier lord was one of the barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta; at one time Elizabeth I owned Brancepeth Castle and sent deer from the park to the King of Scotland; the first Baron Brancepeth, Robert Carr, was a suspected murderer; King Charles I, when short of money, sold the castle to London businessmen. So the romantic story goes on, but first it had to have a beginning.
In Saxon days there was a great house and a church; the first recorded rector was a monk named Haeming, in 1085. The Bulmer family owned the village until the sole heir, Emma, after marrying the nephew of William the Conqueror, then married Geoffrey Neville, in 1174. The Nevilles became Earls of Westmorland in 1397 and Brancepeth owned the sway until the last Earl escaped abroad in 1569 after leading the Rising of the North, when the castle was taken over by the crown. It was Emma’s son who was concerned in the Magna Carta episode. The first Earl, who fought at Agincourt and was grandfather of Warwick the “kingmaker”, built most of the present castle. Some of these mighty men (and women) of a bygone age are buried beneath the church.
Robert Neville, who was known as the “Peacock of the North” because of his swaggering ways, was slain fighting the Scots. The Peacock was remembered for killing Richard Fitzmarmaduke on Elvet Bridge in Durham as this official rode to open county courts as Bishop’s Seneschal. The body of the Peacock was brought back to Brancepeth, where Rector Hugh officiated at the burial in the North Transept. To mark the spot a colossal effigy in stone, representing a knight in a coat of mail and a hood and chain work, was laid.
After the ‘Rising of the North’, the church fell into some disrepair until John Cosin (later Bishop of Durham) became rector in 1625. James I gave the castle to his favourite Robert Carr, whom he made Baron Brancepeth. In love with the Countess of Essex, Carr was suspected of poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, who opposed the Lady’s divorce. Soon he fell from favour, the castle reverted to the Crown again, and the title died with him, to be recreated at a later date. Charles I sold the estate and 1400 trees were cut down and sent to Woolwich to build the Sovereign of the Seas, the first triple-decker in the British Navy.
In 1636, Ralph Cole, at one time Mayor of Newcastle, bought the castle. Grandson of a blacksmith, he was a local boy made good. His son became a baronet. But the second, Sir Ralph Cole, was a man of the arts, a pupil of Van Dyck. He filled the castle with Italian painters and so impoverished himself that in 1701, he was forced to sell the castle to Sir Henry Bellasyse for £16,800. The last of the Bellasyse family was Bridget, who died in 1774 – she was the lovesick girl who sang the famous verse to Bobby Shafto of nearby Whitworth.
In 1796, William Russell, a Sunderland banker and coal owner, bought the castle for £75,000. His son Matthew, who re-built the castle at a cost of £120,000, was alleged to be the richest commoner in England, his wealth resulting from coal mining. In 1838 Emma Russell married the son and heir of Lord Boyne (as a previous Emma had married the forerunner of the Earls of Westmorland in 1174), and the Boyne family remained in Brancepeth until the First World War when the castle became a military hospital. The Boynes restored the chapel in the castle and also the parish church, though mercifully this restoration was slight. A great visitor to Brancepeth in those days was the poet Tennyson, a nephew of Matthew Russell’s wife, who wrote “Come into the garden Maud” in the gardens here.
After the 1914-18 war, the church continued its uninterrupted round of prayer and worship as it had down the ages, but for the first time, the castle stood empty, and its contents were sold – the Great Hall contained a suit of armor inlaid with gold, taken from King David of Scotland at the Battle of Neville’s Cross, together with a picture by Hogarth.
When there are wars, it seems that Brancepeth just must be in the thick of it, and during the Second World War, the castle came to life again as the home of the Durham Light Infantry, whose regimental headquarters it was until 1960. Memorial plaques of the regiments hung in the church.
Meet the Burlinsons - A Trip to England
In April 2024, Burleson family members traveled to England to meet two genetically connected cousins to our American Burleson families. The Burleson Family Association, Paul Sisco, and Denise Sproed offered Y DNA testing to Paul Burlinson-Ely, who then lived in London, England, and the genetic results revealed that his Y DNA matched our American Burleson ancestors. Since then, many emails have bounced back and forth between several English and American cousins.
During the stay in Newcastle Upon Tyne, our family members had the pleasure of meeting Paul and Andrew Burlinson-Ely, and their cousin, Marina Birdi. They were joined by Paula Denson, Sue Burleson Johnson, Laura Fouke, Glenda & Veronica Elliott, Kay Burleson, and Kelly Denson Goebel on a memorable field trip to Bishop Auckland Castle and Brancepeth Castle in Durham County, England. The bonds formed during this trip were further strengthened as Paula Denson continued her visit the next day with Paul, Andrew, and Marina. They drove her to Durham, where they had arranged a private viewing of the Clement Burlison collection of paintings in the town hall. This intimate setting allowed for a deeper appreciation of our shared history. They also visited Durham Cathedral and Durham University, found the location of Clement Burlison's original art studio, and walked through St. Oswald's Graveyard, where William Burlison (1780-1850) was laid to rest, along with other allied families.
During the tours, the group learned much about where earlier ancestors had lived or worked as coal miners and artisans. They were thrilled to view the large chapel within Bishop Auckland castle, which featured stained-glass windows created by Burlison and Grylls. St. Peters Chapel at Auckland , St. Peters Chapel. Another beautiful window (Rose window) made by Burlison and Grylls was viewed by Paula Denson at Poet's Corner within Westminster Abbey in London. For more details, visit Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.
BFA Reports on Our English Kin
The following reports from the early 1980s were featured in several early Burleson Family Bulletins because several organization members hired a professional genealogist to learn more about the Burleson/Burlison/Burlinson families from the Durham area of England. Although there was no Internet and all research was done using traditional methods, Ms. McLaughlin was surprisingly accurate in her explanations. BFA thinks you will enjoy reviewing the links below.