Bradley Hall Wolsingham

Bradley Hall Wolsingham was a substantial and well defended moated manor which survives principally as a parts of the trapezoidal moat with an internal bank. However, there are also remnants of the fortified buildings, such as vaults, within the buildings that remain. The site is a level river terrace on the north side of the River Wear, and is flanked on the west by the Bradley Beck. It lies close to the A689, but cannot be seen from the road. Local public footpath networks do cross over the middle of the moated site, and permit views of the buildings which in part date back to the late 13th century – but they also pass quite close to the farm buildings.

The lands of Bradley were held by a family who took their name from the lands in the 12th century, and who held their lands from the Bishop of Durham, but it passed to the Eures of Witton, perhaps during the reign of Edward III as Ralph Eure was in occupation during the bishopric of Thomas Hatfield – Ralph inherited Witton in 1368, and Thomas died in 1381. His son was given a license to fortify Bradley in 1431, and it is possible that he barrel vaulted ruin in the grounds of the farm dates to this time. The high medieval layout was of four ranges of buildings around a central courtyard; the farmhouse today is housed within and includes parts of the east range. The barrel vaulted ruin is part of the south range, and contains doors and windows that are lancet-shaped, and similar doorways, blocked up. The west range is represented by turf covered foundations, and the north wall is mostly conjectural as it is an intelligible mess best described as a muddled possible bank of spread and fallen masonry. Underground passages and blocked tunnels probably represent long-disused cellars, and a possible gate-passage at the south-eastern corner, but may also be part of the water management system of the Elizabethan occupation phase of the manor.

By this time the Eures had made way for the Tempest family of Holmside Hall. Robert was High Sheriff of Durham, and one of the Guardians of the Temporalities of Durham during the Reformation. However, as he elected to join the 1569 Rising, he was forfeited and lost the estate, which was granted instead to the Bowes family. Robert Tempest died in exile, but the Bowes family then retained Bradley Hall until the mid 19th century. It appears most likely that it was the Bowes family who carried out many of the alterations and improvements of the house, which includes the water management, the filling in of the eastern parts of the moat and the establishment of extensive gardens. To the south of the complex are earthworks which are interpreted as fishponds and elsewhere are mounds which served as rabbit warrens. The farmhouse itself is a late 18th century addition, but has no visible medieval masonry, although it has clearly been altered several times. Today Bradley Hall remains a private home.