Fire reveals secret Brancepeth church hid for 450 years

Dec 8 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

A FIRE which devastated a village church almost 12 years ago exposed a secret which archaeologists are hailing as a major discovery.

High temperatures which vaporised the interior of the 1,000-year-old church at Brancepeth, on the western outskirts of Durham, also revealed more than 100 medieval tombstones hidden in the walls – the biggest collection in the North.

The grave covers known as cross slabs are decorated with swords, crosses and emblems including a pair of shears to signify a housewife, and are related to figures in the history of the village.

Many had been hidden high above ground near the church roof and a popular theory is that a former Bishop of Durham, John Cosin, had secreted them there 450 years ago.

Jim Merrington, of the Brancepeth History and Archive Group, explained: “After the roof burned off we discovered a ring of cross slabs high up around the perimeter of the clerestory which was built in 1638 by Rector John Cosin, who later became Bishop of Durham. All were neatly placed facing skywards. It is possible that Cosin had them gathered up from the churchyard and secreted them away on the very top course of the building safe from vandals and reformists. It was obviously quite a task to get them up there for no real structural purpose.”

Archaeologist Peter Ryder said the collection of cross slabs was the biggest in the North, and possibly the second largest in the country after a collection at Bakewell, Derbyshire.