Brancepeth railway station

Brancepeth is a village and civil parish in County Durham, in England. It is situated about 8 km (5 mi) from Durham on the A690 road between Durham and Weardale. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 414.

Brancepeth Castle is a castle in the village of Brancepeth in County Durham, England, some 5 miles south-west of the city of Durham (grid reference NZ223377). It is a Grade I listed building.

Brandon and Byshottles is a civil parish and electoral ward in County Durham, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 17,774 increasing to 18,509 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes Brandon, New Brancepeth, Broompark, Langley Moor, Ushaw Moor, Meadowfield, Waterhouses and Esh Winning. Unusually, the parish shares jurisdiction over a quarry south of Esh Winning, with the neighbouring parish of Brancepeth. For electoral purposes the parish is divided into wards; Central Ward (includes Brandon) - elects four parish councillors East Ward (includes Langley Moor) - elects three parish councillors North Ward (includes New Brancepeth) - elects three parish councillors South Ward (includes Meadowfield and Browney) - elects three parish councillors Ushaw Moor Ward (includes Ushaw Moor and Broompark) - elects four parish councillors West Ward (includes Esh Winning and Waterhouses) - elects four parish councillorsCurrently, a majority of the Councillors were elected as Labour Party candidates. Brandon & Byshottles was established as a local government unit when it was also established as a Local Board District in 1882. Brandon & Byshottles was reconstituted as an Urban District through the Local Government Act 1894. The Brandon & Byshottles Urban District Council was abolished in 1974 when the area became part of the (now abolished) City of Durham local government area. The Brandon & Byshottles Parish is co-terminous with the pre-1974 UDC area.

Oakenshaw is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the north of Willington. In the 2001 census Oakenshaw had a population of 470.The village was purely a colliery village built for workers at the pit owned by Messrs. Straker & Love. Sinking started in 1855 but definite opening and closing dates are unknown. No disasters of 5 or more people killed were ever recorded but 43 people in total are known to have been killed working at the pit. Once the pit was closed down the village suffered, losing its school and chapels, and several rows of housing were demolished. Housing that was left are now in private ownership and newer housing has been built in the village. The pit was re-opened from 1991 till 1993 but did little to improve the village's economy. Between this point and the millennium the Working Men's Club also closed down, with rumours of a new owner or new housing being built before the building burned down around 2002 due to arson. New housing was built in its place leaving Oakenshaw without a club or pub. The village is home to a large public open field at one end of the village, it runs parallel to New Row and boasts a small football pitch and playing area. After the closure of the mine a Wildlife Reserve area was set up consisting of woodland and pond areas where the opencast mine used to be situated.

New Brancepeth is a village in County Durham, in England. It is about 3 miles (5 km) west of the centre of Durham, above the River Deerness. Its population is around 100–200. It is about 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Brancepeth village. It was the pit village for New Brancepeth Colliery.

Page Bank is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Wear to the east of Willington and to the north-west of Spennymoor.

Brandon Colliery railway station served the village of Brandon, County Durham, England from 1861 to 1964 on the Durham to Bishop Auckland Line.

Brandon is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the southwest of Durham. Brandon was originally one of the seven townships within the ancient parish of Brancepeth. It grew from a sparsely populated agricultural area into a populous mining district after the establishment of collieries and later coke and fireclay works. Until the 19th century Brandon village, formerly known as East Brandon, was one of the larger settlements in Brancepeth Parish.

Brandon United Football Club is a football club based in Brandon, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the Northern League Division Two and play at the Welfare Ground.

Ushaw Moor railway station, was a station on the Deerness Valley Railway, south of the village of Ushaw Moor in County Durham, was opened on 1 September 1884 by the North Eastern Railway.The station closed to passengers on 29 October 1951 and freight on 28 December 1964. The stone and timber built station was demolished and few traces of it remain. The trackbed now forms part of the Deerness Valley Railway Path.

Byers Green is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Spennymoor, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is situated to the north of Bishop Auckland, between Willington and Spennymoor, and a short distance from the River Wear. It has a population of 672. Byers Green Hall has been the home of the Trotter family since the 15th century.Thomas Wright, (1711–1786) a famous 18th-century astronomer, architect and mathematician was born and died here. Wright was educated in King James I Grammar School in Bishop Auckland before being apprenticed to a clockmaker in the town. By 1734, after various adventures, Wright had progressed to making a huge working model of the universe (an orrery) for an aristocratic London patron. This set him on his remarkable career that included the first accurate description of the Milky Way. Professor Harold Orton, (1898–1975) a noted 20th-century linguist and English dialectologist was also born here. Harold Orton was the son of a schoolmaster at Byers Green and attended King James I Grammar School in Bishop Auckland followed by Merton College, Oxford. His 1933 book The Phonology of a South Durham Dialect, based on the dialect of the area, was re-published by Routledge in 2015.Sir Percy Cradock, GCMG, (1923–2010) a senior British civil servant, was born in Byers Green. He was educated at Alderman Wraith Grammar School, Spennymoor followed by St John's College, Cambridge, where he read law. Having trained as a barrister Cradock joined the Diplomatic Service and during his career held a number of senior diplomatic posts, including Ambassador to China. Later in his career he was labelled by the media as the 'UK's most senior spy' because he chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee (UK) under Margaret Thatcher's government. Cradock died in London on 22 January 2010, aged 86. It is not known whether there was a village at Byers Green in the Anglo-Saxon period. The village name is quite late; it was first recorded in 1345 as Bires. It is probably the exact equivalent of the modern word 'byres'. The village name thus means '(the green by the) cowsheds'. Byers Green remained a farming area throughout the medieval period and into the 16th and 17th century. Most people would have worked on the land.

Todhills is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a few miles to the north of Bishop Auckland, between Newfield and Byers Green.