Barnard Castle
 Castles |
Barnard Castle, known locally as 'Barney' and reduced mostly to ruins, is perched on a rocky crag above the town to which it gave its name. This Norman castle, with its adjoining market town, is a useful base for exploring the upper dales of West Durham. Bernard 'Barnard' Baliol, ancestor of the founder of Balliol College, Oxford, built the castle in 1112. Later, it was greatly rebuilt by the Bishop of Durham, and by the Neville family. Anne Neville married Richard III, and brought the castle into his ownership. The principal surviving parts of the castle, are the 14th century Round Tower and the 15th century Great Chamber.
The County Bridge, built in 1569, crosses the River Tees just below the castle, and once formed the boundary between Yorkshire and County Durham. Illegal weddings were performed on the bridge chapel, falling as it did, outside the jurisdiction of both the Bishop of Durham and the Archbishop of York.
There are many fine 17th and 18th centuries houses and inns in the town centre, and several of the central streets are unusually wide. These latter, such as Galgate and Horse Market, as the last name implies, were formerly employed as a market place for the sale of animals. The arcaded Market Cross, dating from 1747, marks the main square of Barnard Castle. Charles Dickens stayed at the King's Head Inn whilst writing Nicholas Nickleby' in 1838.
The town also has one of the best museums in the country, housed in a fantastic French-style Chateau, the famous Bowes Museum. Built by the industrialist John Bowes in 1869, its 40 rooms incorporate one of the most remarkable private art collections in Europe. There are costumes, toys, musical instruments, furniture, ceramics, paintings by Goya, El Greco and Canaletto, period rooms and an incredible mechanical silver swan.
Nearby, is Egglestone Abbey, founded in 1196 by the White Canons, a sect who lived a very strict and severe life. The Canons were ejected in the mid 16th cent, and the new owner made part of the cloisters into an Elizabethan house. The picturesque ruins stand on a beautiful spot on a rise above the River Tees, and are reward enough for a visit.