Topics > County Durham > Bowes

Bowes


 

Bowes is a village in County Durham, England. Located in the Pennine hills, it is situated close to Barnard Castle. It is built around the medieval Bowes Castle.

Geography and administration

Civic history

Bowes lies within the historic county boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire, but along with the rest of the former Startforth Rural District it was incorporated into the non-metropolitan county of Durham for administrative purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972.

The A66 and A67 roads meet at Bowes.

History

The Roman name for Bowes was Lavatrae. A Roman fort was located there, which was re-used as the site for Bowes Castle.

The place-name 'Bowes' is first attested in a charter of 1148, where it appears as Bogas. This is the plural of the Old English boga meaning 'bow', probably signifying an arched bridge.

The village church is dedicated to St Giles.

The only pub in the village, The Ancient Unicorn, is reputed to be haunted by several ghosts. This 17th-century coaching inn famously played host to Charles Dickens as he toured the local area. Dickens found inspiration in the village academy, which he immortalised as Dotheboys Hall in Nicholas Nickleby, and the graves of two of the people who inspired characters portrayed by the great author can be seen in Bowes churchyard to this day. William Shaw (1782-1850) was the headmaster of The Bowes Academy, and is said to have been the model for Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby – they share the same initials. And George Ashton Taylor, who died in 1822 aged 19, apparently inspired Dickens to create the character of Smike in the same novel.

From 1861 to 1962, the village was served by Bowes railway station.

Education

Bowes has a single primary school at the centre of the village, Bowes Hutchinson's C of E (Aided) Primary School.

Notable people

  • Thomas Kipling (bap. 1745, d. 1822), dean of Peterborough, was born in Bowes.
  • John Bailey (1750–1819), mathematician and land surveyor was born in Bowes.
  • Richard Cobden (1804–65), manufacturer and politician, was schooled in Bowes.
Text from Wikipedia, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (accessed: 14/10/2019).
Visit the page: Bowes for references and further details. You can contribute to this article on Wikipedia.
County Durham Charles Dickens and the North East Map and Aerial View Bowes Civil Parish Bowes Parish, 1848 River Greta (County Dirham) Bowes Castle Church of St Giles, Bowes Map and Aerial View Rey Cross, Bowes
from Newcastle University (youtube)
Down In The Quarry - Something Stirred! (1930)

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Flickr (flickr)
Bowes - Primary School

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Flickr (flickr)
Bowes - Castle

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
from Flickr (flickr)
NYorks and CoDurham 054

Pinned by Simon Cotterill
Bowes Parish, 1848
  Co-Curate Page
Bowes Parish, 1848
- BOWES (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Teesdale, wapentake of Gilling-West, N. riding of York, 6 miles (W. by N.) from Greta-Bridge; containing 850 inhabitants, of whom 763 …
from Geograph (geograph)
The Street, Bowes

Pinned by Peter Smith
from Geograph (geograph)
The Grove at Bowes

Pinned by Peter Smith
from Geograph (geograph)
St Giles' Church, Bowes

Pinned by Peter Smith
from Geograph (geograph)
The Ancient Unicorn Hotel

Pinned by Peter Smith
from https://metalanddust.org/2015…
Bowes Railway Station
- "Along with other vestigial remains of the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway, Bowes Railway Station looks like it could have been put there by aliens. Tracing the line is …

Added by
Peter Smith

Comments

Add a comment or share a memory.

Login to add a comment. Sign-up if you don't already have an account.



ABOUT US

Co-Curate is a project which brings together online collections, museums, universities, schools and community groups to make and re-make stories and images from North East England and Cumbria. Co-Curate is a trans-disciplinary project that will open up 'official' museum and 'un-officia'l co-created community-based collections and archives through innovative collaborative approaches using social media and open archives/data.

LATEST SHARED RESOURCES