Bowes is a village and
civil parish in
County Durham, England. Located in the
Pennine hills, it is situated close to
Barnard Castle. It is built around the medieval
Bowes Castle. In 2021 the parish had a population of 442.
[Table PP002 - Sex, from ]
Geography and administration
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 Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
.
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
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
of 1148, where it appears as ''Bogas''. This is the plural of the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''boga'' meaning 'bow', probably signifying an arched bridge.
The village church is dedicated to
St Giles.
The only pub in the village, the formerly named George Inn owned by the Railton family and now named ''The Ancient Unicorn'', is reputed to be haunted by several ghosts. This 17th-century coaching inn famously played host to
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
as he toured the local area. Dickens found inspiration in the village schools 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. 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. Just to the north of the village at Stoney Keld, is the site of the former
RAF Bowes Moor, a chemical warfare agent storage site between 1941 and 1947. The Bowes Loop of the
Pennine Way goes through the site.
The village is also home to possibly the smallest former working men's club in the country. Now known as Bowes Social Club, it is run by volunteers and is often used as a venue to raise money for local events.
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.
[Miles Taylor, ‘Cobden, Richard (1804–1865)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200]
accessed 2 May 2011
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References
External links
Bowes village website
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Villages in County Durham
Civil parishes in County Durham