Brignall Banks

Brignall village is located in an elevated position adjacent to the River Greta, about 2 km upstream from Greta Bridge. The village is within the Teesdale district of south-west County Durham, England, the nearest town is the market town of Barnard Castle. The village is best known for the scenic valley section of the River Greta known as Brignall Banks, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Scargill is a hamlet in the Pennines of England, situated close to the River Greta. The population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are kept in the parish of Barningham. It lies within the historic boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire, but along with the rest of the former Startforth Rural District it was transferred to County Durham for administrative and ceremonial purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972. The name Skargill derives from the old Norse and means simply the gill (small valley) of Skarri (a male personal name). Scargill is a dispersed settlement consisting of a number of farms scattered over a wide area. The centre of the village in medieval times was located around Castle farm, where the remains of Scargill Castle can still be seen. The castle is more accurately described as a fortified manor house and was occupied from at least the late 12th century. Only small fragments of the walls of this early building remain surrounded by extensive earthworks, all of which are scheduled as an ancient monument. The castle was rebuilt in the early 16th century and the gatehouse of this building still stands (Grade II* listed). After being on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk register for several years the gatehouse was restored between 1999 and 2001. It has recently been further improved and is now available as a holiday let. In 2008 Channel 4's Time Team investigated the restored remains of Scargill Castle, discovered a variety of medieval and Tudor buildings. The programme of the dig was first broadcast on 11 January 2009. The small town of Scargill, in North Canterbury, New Zealand, was named by two Yorkshireman in reference to the town of Scargill, in County Durham.

Rokeby ( ROHK-bee) is a civil parish about 2.5 miles from Barnard Castle, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Greta Bridge. In 2011 the parish had a population of 158. The parish touches Barningham, Boldron, Bowes, Brignall, Egglestone Abbey, Westwick, Whorlton and Wycliffe with Thorpe. The A66 runs through the area. Rokeby shares a parish council with Brignall and Egglestone Abbey called "Rokeby, Brignall & Egglestone Abbey Parish Council".

Egglestone Abbey is a ruined Premonstratensian abbey in County Durham, England. It is located 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) south-east of Barnard Castle, on the south bank of the River Tees, and was historically within the North Riding of Yorkshire. The site buildings are protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and maintained by English Heritage; admission is free.

The Milbank Arms is a Grade II listed public house at Barningham, County Durham. Built in the early 19th century, it spent a period as a hotel before converting to a public house. It was one of the last public houses in the country to not include a bar counter when one was fitted in 2018. The public house, and former hotel, are named after local land owning family, the Milbanks, who have recently taken over the license.

Barningham is a village in County Durham, in the Pennines of England.

Barningham Park is a Grade II* listed country house and 7,000 acre estate located in the village of Barningham, County Durham (formerly the North Riding of Yorkshire), England.

Rokeby Park is a country house in the Palladian style in the civil parish of Rokeby, in Northern England. It is close to the confluence of the River Tees and River Greta, near Greta Bridge in what is now County Durham. It was historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It is the private home of Sir Andrew Morritt but is open to the public on selected days. The house is the original English home of the painting The Toilet of Venus by Diego Velázquez, now known in English as The Rokeby Venus. The original now hangs in the National Gallery, London and a copy in the saloon at Rokeby Park. Sir Walter Scott was a regular visitor to the house and used it as the setting for his narrative poem Rokeby in 1812. The building is of interest in its own right. Completed in 1735 (and known at the time as Rokeby Hall) by Sir Thomas Robinson, it is considered a fine example of the italianate Palladian style. Robinson owned it until 1769, when he sold it to JS Morritt, an ancestor of the current owner. Much of the present interior was designed by John Carr. The house contains the collection of fine needlework pictures by Anne Morritt (1726–1797), the unmarried sister of JS Morritt. There is also a rare surviving print room wallpapered with 18th-century prints.

Westwick is a village in County Durham, in England. The population of the civil parish was less than 100. Details are maintained in the parish of Whorlton. It is situated to the east of Barnard Castle near the River Tees.

Greta Bridge is a village on the River Greta in County Durham, England.

Barnard Castle School (colloquially Barney School or locally the County School) is a co-educational private day and boarding school in the market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, in the North East of England. It is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). It was founded in 1883 with funding from a 13th-century endowment of John I de Balliol and the bequest of the local industrialist Benjamin Flounders. The ambition was to create a school of the quality of the ancient public schools at a more reasonable cost, whilst accepting pupils regardless of their faith. Originally the North Eastern County School, the name was changed in 1924, but is still generally known locally as the "County School". The school is set in its own 50-acre (20 ha) grounds in Teesdale, within the North Pennines, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. An on-site prep school caters for pupils aged 4 to 11, while the senior school caters for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school was previously funded by direct grant. Founded as an all-boys school, it has been fully co-educational since 1993. There are around 660 pupils and some 200 members of staff. Since the 1980s, the school has been one of Britain's most successful at producing top class rugby union players. During this period it schooled England international players Rob Andrew and Tony and Rory Underwood. The school has also produced Mathew Tait, Lee Dickson and Tim Visser, and appeared in three finals of the inter-school Daily Mail Cup. Former pupils in other fields include Edward Mellanby (the discoverer of Vitamin D); industrialist Percy Mills, The Lord Mills; fashion designers Giles Deacon and Patrick Grant; poet Craig Raine; and actor Kevin Whately.

The Bowes Museum is an art gallery in the town of Barnard Castle, in County Durham in northern England. It was built to designs by Jules Pellechet and John Edward Watson to house the art collection of John Bowes and his wife Joséphine Benoîte Coffin-Chevallier, and opened in 1892. It contains paintings by El Greco, Francisco Goya, Canaletto, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher, together with several collections of decorative art, especially porcelain, textiles, tapestries, clocks and costumes, and objects of local historical interest. Some early works of Émile Gallé were commissioned by Coffin-Chevallier. A popular showpiece is a life-size eighteenth-century Silver Swan automaton, which periodically preens itself, looks round and appears to catch and swallow a fish.