Burnopfield
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Burnopfield is a village in
County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
, in England. It is situated north of
Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
and Annfield Plain, close to the River Derwent and is 564 feet above sea level. There are around 4,553 inhabitants in Burnopfield. It is located 7 miles from
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
and 15 miles from
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
.


Etymology

The name ''Burnopfield'' probably comes from the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
meaning "field by the valley stream", although local legend says that the village got its name after an attempted Scottish invasion of England was foiled by literally ''burning up the fields'' to stop the advancing armies. In the 19th century, Burnopfield was usually referred to as ''the Leap'', or in local dialect, as ''the Loup'', after the area of Burnopfield named ''Bryan's Leap''.


History

Burnopfield was the site of a
leper Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damage ...
hospital, High Friarside Hospice, which was founded in 1312, but was demolished in approximately 1450. The remains of the original chapel can still be seen today. Other historical buildings in Burnopfield include Burnopfield Hall, which was constructed in 1720 by the Newton family, a wealthy mine-owning family, Leap Mill Farm, a classic example of an 18th-century
mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
with a working water wheel, and the
Gibside Gibside is an estate in the Derwent Valley in North East England. It is between Rowlands Gill, in Tyne and Wear, and Burnopfield, in County Durham, and a few miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Gibside was previously owned by the Bowes-Lyon fam ...
estate, which is located between Burnopfield and
Rowlands Gill Rowlands Gill is a town situated along the A694, between Winlaton Mill and Hamsterley Mill, on the north bank of the River Derwent, in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Within Gateshead's greenbelt, the town has a ...
. The families of Burnopfield Hall and Gibside are linked by the scandalous adventurer Andrew Robinson Stoney: in the late 1760s, Hannah Newton, daughter and heiress to the Newton family fortune, married Stoney, an Irish Lieutenant and adventurer who was stationed in Newcastle. They went to live at Colepike Hall in Lanchester, where his ill-treatment of her became a local scandal, and within a few years she died. In control of her £20,000 fortune, he set off for London, where he met the widowed Countess of Strathmore, who owned the Gibside estate. Stoney eventually tricked her into marriage, and having to adopt her family name of Bowes, became the notorious Stoney Bowes. Her subsequent miserable life with him became one of the biggest scandals of the period. His story was fictionalised by
William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...
in ''
The Luck of Barry Lyndon ''The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' is a picaresque novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published as a serial in ''Fraser's Magazine'' in 1844, about a member of the Irish gentry trying to become a member of the English aristocracy. Thacker ...
''.
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
later adapted the novel into the 1975 film ''
Barry Lyndon ''Barry Lyndon'' is a 1975 period drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel ''The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' by William Makepeace Thackeray. Starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard ...
''. The family at Gibside Hall eventually became the
Bowes-Lyon The Bowes-Lyon family descends from George Bowes of Gibside and Streatlam Castle ''(1701–1760)'', a County Durham landowner and politician, through John Bowes, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, chief of the Clan Lyon. Following the marriage ...
family, one member of the family being
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...
. The hall itself is now owned by the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. In 1815, J. M. W. Turner produced several
landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...
of Gibside Hall, which are on display in the
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
. In 1746,
John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
visited the village, and preached in a garden in Sheep Hill, an area within Burnopfield. He made several more visits, resulting in the formation of a Methodist Society, and in 1775 the first chapel was built, and rebuilt in 1880. By this time other two places of worship had been built: in 1870, a second Methodist chapel, and in 1873, the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church of Saint James was constructed in 1873 at the Leazes end of the village. Until the church was built, Burnopfield had been a section of the Tanfield and District Anglican Parish.


Coal mining

Coal mining in County Durham began in the 1600s, and narrow waggonways were laid from the pits and Burnopfield was found to be an ideal place for the waggonways from the Pontop and Tanfield Moor areas to pass through and then continue down the hill to cross the Derwent, and on to the
River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
for the coal to be shipped. Although surrounded by colliery villages like Lintz, Hobson, High Friarside and
Marley Hill Marley Hill is a former colliery village about six miles to the south west of Gateshead, near the border between Tyne and Wear and County Durham. It has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead since 1974. Prior to this it was part ...
, it never had a serious mine of its own. Gradually it became largely occupied by people who worked in the nearby mining villages. With the building of a
Co-operative Society A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratical ...
shop in 1889, it also became a shopping centre for the miners and their families from the neighbouring colliery villages. With the decline of the British mining industry, the number of miners in the village drastically decreased, and they worked in the coastal pits. Industrial estates, factories, offices and shops now provide the work for residents of Burnopfield. During the latter part of the 20th century, the village changed from its old waggonway days; new council and private estates have been built and Burnopfield has extended both to the east and the west absorbing much of the adjoining areas into its postal district.


Cricket

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
has long been a popular sport in the village – it has been played at two small cricket grounds. One is to be found in Lintz, near Burnopfield, since 1905, and the other once was located in Burnopfield proper before being demolished and turned into a housing estate. Both grounds were built upon land given to the clubs by the
National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...
. The Burnopfield Club produced two
Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...
ers for
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, both of whom played before
Durham County Cricket Club Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Durham. Founded in 1882, Du ...
took part in the
county championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
;
Jim McConnon James Edward McConnon (21 June 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an English cricketer, who played in two Tests in 1954 as an off-spin bowler. He played for Glamorgan from 1950 to 1961, albeit missing the 1956 season when he decided to play for ...
, who played for
Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...
, and
Colin Milburn Colin Milburn (nicknamed Ollie; 23 October 1941 – 28 February 1990) was an English cricketer, who played in nine Test matches for England, before an accident led to the loss of much of his sight and prompted his retirement. Cricker writer Coli ...
, the "Burnopfield Basher", who played for
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
. When Milburn died in 1990, his funeral was the largest ever seen in Burnopfield, and was attended by many notable cricketing figures including future Durham player
Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one ...
.


Lintz

Lintz is a small village immediately to the south-west of Burnopfield. The famous court case, ''
Miller v Jackson ''Miller v Jackson'' 977QB 966 is a famous Court of Appeal of England and Wales case in the torts of negligence and nuisance. The court considered whether the defendant - the chairman of a local cricket club, on behalf of its members - was liab ...
'', arose from cricket played by Lintz Cricket Club in the village.


Notable residents

*
Eddie Chapman Edward Arnold Chapman (16 November 1914 – 11 December 1997) was an English criminal and wartime spy. During the Second World War he offered his services to Nazi Germany as a spy and subsequently became a British double agent. His British Se ...
(1914–1997), criminal and double agent for
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the UK. *
Jim McConnon James Edward McConnon (21 June 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an English cricketer, who played in two Tests in 1954 as an off-spin bowler. He played for Glamorgan from 1950 to 1961, albeit missing the 1956 season when he decided to play for ...
(1922–2003),
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er, played two
Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
for England *
Colin Milburn Colin Milburn (nicknamed Ollie; 23 October 1941 – 28 February 1990) was an English cricketer, who played in nine Test matches for England, before an accident led to the loss of much of his sight and prompted his retirement. Cricker writer Coli ...
(1941–1990),
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er, played nine
Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
for England *
John Snow John Snow (15 March 1813 – 16 June 1858) was an English physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology, in part because of his work in tracing the so ...
(1813–1858), physician and proponent of
anaesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), a ...
and medical
hygiene Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...
*
Dare Wilson Major General Ronald Dare Wilson, CBE, MC (3 August 1919 – 15 August 2014) was a senior British Army officer, author, and park warden. He was decorated during World War II, commanded 22 Special Air Service Regiment in the early 1960s and end ...
(1919–2014), SAS officer who introduced
attack helicopters An attack helicopter is an armed helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the offensive capability of engaging ground targets such as enemy infantry, military vehicles and fortifications. Due to their heavy armament they ...
to the British military * Chrissy Rouse (1995-2022) Motorbike Driver


Transport

The village is served by the Go North East bus service. The current services include the 6 (Lanchester to Newcastle), the X71 (Consett to Newcastle) and after 6pm, the X72 (Stanley to Newcastle) Previous bus services included the m6, m7, m8, 40, 714, 43, X12, the X70 and the 770. The R5 runs hourly during the day Mon. to Sat. from St James Church to Rowlands Gill and Highfield.


References


External links

*
Keys to the PastVillage website
{{authority control Villages in County Durham