THIS weekend, the 25th anniversary of a fire that devastated one of the most important buildings in the county is to be commemorated, along with the story of its renewal.
At 4.20am on September 16, 1998, St Brandon’s Church in the shadow of Brancepeth castle was discovered to be ablaze. Temperatures inside soared to 1,200 degrees as the flames consumed most of the centuries old timber and caused stonework to explode, lead to melt, bells to plummet from the belfry and furnishings to vaporise.
Most importantly, the fire destroyed the intricate carved woodwork which attracted visitors from around the globe. It had been installed by the rector of Brancepeth, John Cosin, between 1626 and 1640 as he attempted to restore the church to its lost glory and to turn it into a mausoleum for himself.
In his 1953 guide to the architectural treasures of Durham, Nikolaus Pevsner wrote: "There is hardly another (church) in the country so completely and splendidly furnished in the 17th century."
The 2021 updated edition of Pevsner says the fire was “probably the greatest single loss of the North East’s cultural heritage in the 20th Century”.
But it also notes that the “burnt-out shell has been magnificent restored” to create an airy modern building, with light of all colours flooding through a brilliant window.
Still, though, it is steeped in its history.
Indeed, the fire revealed much about that history. It had previously been thought that the church dated from the 1080s, but as the plasterwork crumbled, it revealed massive Saxon stones showing there had been a simple church on the site since about 700AD.
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In medieval times, as the Neville family who owned the neighbouring castle grew in importance, so the church was enlarged, most notably to take the tomb of Robert Neville, “the Peacock of the North”.
He was a colourful character: in 1314, he was captured by the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn; in 1316, he killed Richard Fitz Marmaduke, the steward of the Bishop of Durham, in a jealous fight on Framwellgate Bridge, over “who might rule the most”. To gain a pardon, he entered the service of the king, Edward II, and on June 6, 1319, he was killed leading a raid against the Scots who had captured Berwick. Lurid stories of his death tell of him being hacked at by the Scottish commander, Black Douglas, with whom he shared a bitter feud.
His colourful epithet probably arose because his emblem was a strutting peacock, and he was buried beneath a knightly effigy in the church. The effigy survived the fire in which it was splattered from the roof by molten lead which hardened into a yellow glaze – quite appropriate for a peacock.
However, the Nevilles were on the wrong side of the Rising of the North in 1569. Their castle was confiscated and the church fell from prominence.
In 1626, an ambitious cleric, John Cosin, became Brancepeth’s rector, and using the county’s finest craftsmen, and the wood of six trees granted to him in 1628, he created the elaborate, flamboyant pews, pulpit, font cover, rood screen, nave panelling, chancel ceiling and choir stalls that – until the fire – attracted people from around the world.
Pevsner in 1953 said they were “one of the most remarkable contributions of the county to the history of architecture and decoration in England”, but after the fire had raged through, all that was left of them was hundreds of handmade nails of various sizes.
But the £3.2m restoration, completed in 2005, discovered that as Cosin enlarged the church, he allowed the stonemasons to use old grave covers, dating from 1300 to 1500, in the upper walls. The restorers retrieved them, and now St Brandon’s has the largest collection of “cross slabs”, as they are called, in the north, with the emblems carved into them telling of local people who lived in Brancepeth more than 800 years ago.
Today
10am to 3pm: Displays in the church
6pm to 7.30pm: Castle chapel open
7.30pm: Sharing the Story: a presentation about the fire and what came next
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Sunday
6.30am: A vigil will be held as dawn breaks and as people 25 years ago began to realise the enormity of what had happened.
10.15am: Anniversary Service, led by the Bishop of Durham
12 to 5pm: Displays in the church, with the castle chapel open from 2pm to 3.30pm
ST BRANDON’S CHURCH is the only one in Britain dedicated to “Brendan the Navigator”, a 6th Century Irish missionary who travelled far and wide spreading the word. He may have voyaged through County Durham – perhaps the name “Brancepeth” is derived from “Brendan’s path”.
RECTOR John Cosin’s time in Brancepeth came to an end around 1640 when, as a royalist, he was forced to flee to France during the English Civil War. However, with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, he returned in glory and became Bishop of Durham. He applied his love of intricate woodwork to Durham cathedral and to St Peter’s Chapel at Auckland Castle, where he is buried.
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