Brancepeth Castle was built for an army, but the troops stationed there during the Great War were under medical, not military, orders.

BRANCEPETH Castle has a rich and varied history going back to the Normans, but the outbreak of the First World War saw it return to something like the purpose for which it was built – housing an army.

Sadly, for those troops who found themselves stationed there it meant things had already gone badly for them because, like many great houses at that time including the nation’s favourite fictional pile Downton Abbey, it was used as a hospital.

It was not a centre which received casualties but it was one of County Durham’s 28 Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) hospitals where survivors were sent to recuperate after receiving acute treatment at a more “medicalised” hospital. Because many of the patients were on their way back to health, they were able to attend local events, go on outings and became part of the community.

The community also got to know the soldiers because, apart from a few fully trained nurses, the VAD hospitals were staffed by local volunteers.

With the help of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Brancepeth Archives and History Group is collecting as much information as possible about the village’s people and activities during the First World War, which will go in a free exhibition at the castle on September 12 and 13 during the Heritage Open Days.

At the start of the war, the castle’s owner, Gustavus William Hamilton Russell, the 9th Viscount Boyne and Baron Brancepeth, offered it to the Red Cross for medical purposes, and he and his family moved out to Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield, another family seat.

The family, though, remained involved with the running of the hospital – Viscountess Margaret Selina received a CBE in 1920 for her contribution, and one of Lord Boyne’s sisters was a masseur who gave fashionable electrical treatments to the patients.

Patients came from all over. There are records of Canadian, French, Belgian and South African casualties staying in Brancepeth, sailors as well as soldiers. More than 4,000 passed through in the course of the war – the average stay was about three weeks – although there was a maximum of 104 beds at any one time.

The patients’ links with the villagers were quite strong. Former chairman of the history society Peter Storey said: “Mr Conlan, who owned the Brancepeth Castle Hotel, used to take them out in a bus on various outings. He ran coursing (presumably hare coursing) meetings in order to make money to take them on outings.”

Mr Storey knows of one patient with a higher profile than others. He said: “We have a famous poet, Ivor Gurney, one of the war poets. He was here towards the end of the war. A lot has been written about him as a poet and he mentions his stay at Brancepeth in his letters.”

Gurney, from Gloucestershire, had joined up in the hope the Army life would help him cope with mental instability. That worked for a while. He was wounded in the shoulder in 1917 and recovered to return to battle but was later mildly gassed in September 1917 and send to a VAD hospital in Edinburgh.

He ended up in Brancepeth the following year with a diagnosis of a nervous breakdown as a result of deferred shell shock. He later recovered sufficiently to be honourably discharged from the Army although mental health problems continued to plague his life.

Throughout all his tribulations, Gurney continued to write poetry and compose music. At Brancepeth he composed several songs despite being unimpressed by the sound quality which, he said, sounded like “a boiler factory in full swing because of the stone walls”. He is commemorated with other war poets in Westminster Abbey.

The group’s researchers have discovered that the local doctor, James Wilson, and his brother, a GP at Langley Moor and possibly called Thomas, were responsible for the day-to-day care of the patients. If more serious problems arose, the patients would be referred to the experts at Newcastle General Hospital.

They’ve also discovered that the husband of one nurse – Harriet Weir – was away fighting while she was stationed at Brancepeth.

Their research has been hindered by the complete change in the nature of Brancepeth in the past 100 years. At the time of the war, the village housed about 400 people, who were nearly all the Viscount’s estate workers and their families.

When the castle and estate were sold in 1948, a new set of people moved into the attractive houses and today only two families can trace their occupation back to the time of the Boyne family.

The history group has contacted as many people as it can who have links with that time to piece together photographs and stories of the hospital and its effect on life in the area, but it would love to hear from anybody else with information or connections.

The group has already researched the 16 men named on the village war memorial, and has produced a book of their stories, again with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, but additional information would be welcome.

If you have anything you can contribute, call Vivienne Lowe on 0191-378-0974.

The small village of Brancepeth expanded massively between 1939 and 1962 due to the presence of an army camp of 100 huts which was the regimental headquarters of the Durham Light Infantry.

At the end of the Second World War, the camp hosted hundreds of Polish soldiers who had fought on the Allied side in regiments comprising their countrymen. However, in the aftermath of the war, they were stationed at Brancepeth while waiting for their new lives to begin.

The historians of the Brancepeth Archives and History Group are appealing for information about these men, too. All that is known is that many eventually returned home to Poland although some went much further afield – the group has been contacted by a man in Canada whose forebear had set out from Brancepeth.

And a few married locally and started their new lives in County Durham.

If you know of any names, stories or events from the lives of these men, the history group would be delighted to hear from you. Perhaps your grandparents befriended the men or perhaps you are descended from one of them.

Brancepeth Castle

Pre-Norman Conquest: The area was owned by the Bulmer family

Late 12th Century: Emma Bulmer married Geoffrey Neville, whose family would come to own Raby Castle in Staindrop

14th Century: The Nevilles built Brancepeth Castle

1569: The Nevilles were on the pro-Catholic side of the Rising of the North, so Elizabeth I seized Brancepeth

17th Century: The Crown sold the castle to its supporters, including Sir Henry Bellasis, MP for Durham

1769: Sir Henry's granddaughter, Bridget, inherited Brancepeth

Late 18th Century: Brancepeth sold for £75,000 to William Russell, a Sunderland coal owner and broker

1817: Russell's son Matthew began spending a huge amount on the castle

1828: Matthew's daughter Emma married into the Hamilton family

1948: The Hamilton Russells sold Brancepeth

1978: Brancepeth sold to Margaret Dobson, who lived there until her death last year