The Remembrance Day service and ceremony will be on 8 November 2026.
First is Sunday morning service at the parish church of St Michael & All Angels, Coach Lane, which starts at 9:15am, as on all Sundays.
Second is the service at the Witton Gilbert war memorial at 10:50am. Reader Karen Abbott conducts the service, which includes a prayer for peace, an act of commitment, and an act of remembrance, as well as hymns and prayers.
Riverside Brass Band
As usual, the Chester le Street Riverside Youth Brass Band will play. They are part of the championship NASUWT Riverside Brass Band, founded in 1877 and previously been called the Chester-le-Street Riverside Brass Band and the Newcastle Brown Ale Band. They rehearse in Pelton Fell, Chester-le-Street, and compete in regional and Scottish contests, frequently travelling to National Finals, according to this website for the Northern Regional Brass Band Trust. . On 3 October, they travelled to the Royal Albert Hall on 3 October to represent the North East of England, according to the band’s Facebook page. NASUWT is the Teachers’ Union.
They play beautifully, including “The Last Post” and “Reveille”.
Representatives of local groups and organisations will lay commemorative wreaths.
About Witton Gilbert war memorial
There is a full description of the War Memorial on our website from 2019 . The designer was J.C. Burrell of Durham and the memorial was built and erected in 1922. It features a cross of St Cuthbert on a tapering octagonal column with a square pedestal set on two octagonal steps.
It commemorates the 43 men from Witton Gilbert who lost their lives in World War I (1914-18), nearly one in five of the 222 Witton Gilbert men who joined up, and 10 more men from Witton Gilbert who died in World War II (1939-45). Their names were added to the East side. The names can all be read on the blog post referenced.
The memorial was moved to its current position on Sacriston Lane in 1978 by members of 105 Squadron, 72 Regiment the Royal Engineers, with support from the local community. It is made of Stainton stone and consists of 28 pieces, the largest weighs over 1.2 tonnes. In 2000, the memorial was cleaned and the inscriptions were recut.
Tomorrow (9 May) is an open day at the BeauRepaire mediaeval manor, organized by the Dream Heritage Foundation. The manor ruins are in a lovely spot next to the River Browney between Witton Gilbert and Bearpark villages. In the last few years, Dream Heritage organisation and many volunteers have transformed it from a bramble-filled ruin into a beautiful spot for visiting, picnics and concerts.
The open day starts tomorrow Saturday at Bearpark Methodist Church (14 Auton Stile, DH7 7DB) at 10am. The programme includes cake and hot drinks, chatting to volunteers, a short talk on the history of the site, what’s been found so far and hopes and dreams for the future of Beaurepaire. At 11am there will be a guided walk to the site, followed by volunteer gardening on the site from 12-2pm, when the event finishes. Tickets are free (on Eventbrite ), and donations to support the work are very welcome. People under 18 years should bring a legal guardian or parent.
The next volunteer site gardening day will be on Friday 22 May, from 1-5pm.
The next open day will be on Saturday 30 May from 10am-2pm, following the same programme as before (tickets here ). It will be followed by a “Music in the Ruins” fundraiser concert with singer/ songwriter/ troubadour Steve Pledger from 2-4pm (free tickets here).
A 2024 story on BBC news , with before and after photos, tells of the work. According to Rebekah Watkins of Dream Heritage, they started just before the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The rooms were so “full of bramble” that they could not enter and they could hardly see the walls beneath thick ivy. The BBC quotes her saying: “After a month or two you could see that we were working from room to room and reclaiming the site. “As room by room got transformed, I think it brought energy and enthusiasm,”
More than 50 volunteers got involved, aged from 2 to over 80 years old. The BBC quotes volunteer Bill Hindmarch: “Looking at the site now, I’m proud and somewhat amazed at what we have achieved.”
According to the report Durham County Council monitors the progress. It quotes Steve Bhowmick, DCC Environment and Design Manager, that the site had been restored “for the benefit of the community” thanks to Dream Heritage’s work and the local authority was “pleased” to see it removed from the at risk register.
What is Dream Heritage?
Dream Heritage is a Community Interest Company (CIC) set up in 2019 and headquartered in Howden, East Yorkshire. It has four directors, including Rebekah Watkins described on the website as “a professional archaeologist and historic building conservationist with a passion for both community and heritage.” She has a BSc Archaeology degree from Durham University and was awarded the John Ashurst Prize (Historic England) from West Dean College for outstanding work in conservation and repair of historic buildings.
Rebekah is committed to empowering communities to restore and maintain their local heritage. According to the website: “With experience in commercial archaeology, community archaeology, material conservation, project management, community engagement, mural paintings/ communal art/ sculpture, and heritage conservation and repair.”
Another director is John Watkins, who adds to a career as a skilled mechanical engineer by being “a proficient builder, renovating listed buildings in his spare time”.
Read more about the Dream Heritage website: “We are a relatively small team focused on empowering and upskilling others to be ‘restorers of ruins’ in both heritage and communities in their own contexts. Volunteers help to lubricate activities and events, and help with administration, fundraising & promotion. We are not striving to make an empire, but to empower!
“We are: specialists in heritage conservation, maintenance and repair & archaeological services; leaders of community heritage projects & archaeological excavation; skilled in delivering skills training, craft workshops & volunteer opportunities; passionate about the church, ministry and youth outreach; advocates for the environment; and champions for local history and its place in the school curriculum.”
Country home for monks
Beaurepaire Priory (the name means “beautiful retreat”) was originally built in 1258 by Bertram de Middleton, the Prior in charge of the Priory of Durham’s Benedictine monks and Convent of Durham from 1244-1258, when he retired. It is on an isolated peninsula above the River Browney and Prior Hugh of Darlington added a surrounding 1,300-acre hunting park belonging to the monastery almost 30 years later.
The prior and monks went there four times a year, including for fun (ludi prioris – the prior’s games) but it was built was a manor house (rather than a priory) to offer hospitality to visiting royalty. Kings Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III visited it between 1296 and 1335 during their campaigns against the Scots.
It has also been expanded several times over the following centuries. It became a country retreat for the monks of Durham and a home for retired monks, similar to Finchale, which was a priory. Beaurepaire is three miles from Durham City so the monks could walk back to attend daily mass. Beaurepaire included St Edmund’s Chapel and was extended with a large kitchen, dormitory and garden.
The Scottish army of King David II ransacked and damaged the priory in October 1346 as they camped in the park the day before their defeat at the Battle of Neville’s Cross. After the battle, on 17 October King David was captured nearby, apparently hiding under a bridge over the River Browney near Aldin Grange.
John Fossor (Prior of Durham 1341-1374) ordered that Beaurepaire be rebuilt and extended. Although the monastery was dissolved in the 1530s during the reign of Henry VIII it was used and continued to expand, covering 6 acres of a 38-acre working site.
The Scots Covenanter army fighting on the side of Parliament in the 1640s during the English Civil War (also called War of Three Kingdoms) damaged it again in the 1640s, during the British Civil War.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has decided to add Witton Gilbert War Memorial to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The memorial is now listed at Grade II.
Please follow the link below to download a copy of our advice report, which gives the principal reasons for this decision. The List entry for this building, together with a map, has now been published on the National Heritage List for England, and will be available for public access from tomorrow. This List can be accessed through The Historic England website.
Histioric England is considering Listing the war Memorial as part of the commemoration of the centenary of the First World War.
This has prompted us to record some of the details, and we would like to ask the families of those who lost their lives in the conflicts commemorated on the memorial if they have photographs or family stories they can recount. Please use the contact form below. Also we hope that all of the detail in this post are correct, please let us have any corrections or futher information.
The Memorial in its current location
History The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss. One such memorial was raised at Witton Gilbert as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 43 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War..
222 men from Witton Gilbert joined up to serve in the war, of whom nearly 20 per cent fell. The memorial was originally erected in the Graham Memorial Park in Witton Dene. It cost £400 which was raised by public subscription. The designer was JG Burrell of Durham. It was unveiled on Saturday 2 September 1922 by Lt Col JR Ritson, TD. Large numbers of representatives from parish and district organisations were also present.
The memorial park provided work for the unemployed but sadly suffered from vandalism even before the unveiling. After the Second World War the names of ten casualties of that war were added. During the C20 much of the old village was demolished leaving the memorial somewhat isolated. It was relocated in 1978 by members of 105 Squadron, 72 Regiment the Royal Engineers with support from the local community, and rededicated on 5 November that year. It was unveiled in its new position by Capt D Brown and rededicated by Fr Ian Hoskins.
The memorial’s original height was 23 feet, but a photograph taken in its original location shows it had a three-stepped base. It is not clear if the lower step survives in the new location, but if so it is buried beneath the paving surrounding the memorial. The relocation revealed that the memorial comprised 28 pieces, the largest of which weighed 2,800 lbs (more than 1.2 tonnes). The memorial was cleaned and the inscriptions recut in 2000.
The Memorial in its original location
Details A First World War memorial of 1922, by JG Burrell, with later additions for the Second World War, and relocated in 1978.
MATERIALS: Stainton sandstone. DESCRIPTION: standing in a small memorial garden accessed from Briar Lea.
The memorial faces west and comprises a cross of St Cuthbert on a tapering octagonal column with a square pedestal set on two octagonal steps. The pedestal has stopped chamfers and a hollow-moulded, tapering top. The cross-shaft has an elaborate moulded foot with recessed panels to each face and a tetrahedral band. The abacus is also moulded, and the cross has a three-stepped octagonal foot.
The inscriptions are incised. Around the bottom of the cross-shaft foot is inscribed: GREATER/ LOVE/ HATH/ NO MAN/ THAN TO/ LAY DOWN/ HIS LIFE FOR/ HIS FRIEND. The west face of the pedestal is inscribed: WITTON GILBERT WAR MEMORIAL/ ROLL OF HONOUR/ OF LOCAL HEROES WHO DIED/ FOR THEIR KING AND COUNTRY/ DURING THE GREAT WAR/ FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS/ LORD GRANT THEM EVERLASTING PEACE.
The rolls of honour are inscribed on the north and south faces. The names are listed by the year of death (which continue to 1920), then alphabetically by surname with rank and regiment. The east face is inscribed with the dates 1939 – 1945 and ten names listed alphabetically by surname without ranks or units.
North face
1914
PTE George Moody 8th D.L.I.
1915
PTE Gilbert Hodgson Robson 8th D.L.I.
1916
PTE Joseph Armstrong 2nd E.Y.
PTE Joseph Beardmore 6th E.Y.
PTE Cuthbert Carr 15th D.L.I.
PTE Matthew Cumming 18th D.L.I.
PTE Thomas Guy 27th N.F.
PTE Charles Joseph Graham 5th D.L.I.
PTE Thomas James Goodwin 2nd D.L.I.
PTE Herbert Cill 13th D.L.I.
LCE CPL George Jackson 2nd D.L.I.
BOMB Richard Lisco 8th E.Y.
PTE Roger Parkin 20th D.L.I.
PTE Gibson Snaith 13th D.L.I.
SERGT Robert Yule 19th D.L.I.
1917
SERGT Arthur Ernest Clark 2nd D.L.I.
PTE George Craggs 1st Worcester
STOKER Thomas Davison H.M.S SUPERB
PTE Arthur Edmundson 6th BORD
PTE Ernest Hunter 9th W.Y.
PTE Tom Allanson Hardy 19th N.F.
PTE Robert Knowlson 8th Y.
South face
1917
LCE.CPL Owen William Maule 25th N.F.
PTE Jacob Martin 1/4th K.O.Y.L.I
PTE Alexander Logan McDonald 8th E.Y.
GUNNER William Thirkell Pratt 5th D.L.I.
PTE John James Smeatham 6th YORKS.
PTE Albert Moyes Walker 19th Y.
PTE Thomas Brown 3rd N.F.
LIEUT William Henry Brown 18th D.L.I.
PTE John Godfrey 15th D.L.I.
PTE George Johnson 16th CHES.
LC CPL Thomas Gadstone Martindale 14th D.L.I.
PTE Charles Metcalf 20th D.L.I.
GUNNER Simpson Turnbull Parkin R.G.A
PTE George Roe 2nd D.L.I.
PTE John Roe A.S.C.
PTE George Cuthbert Raine 18th D.L.I.
PTE John Walton 15th D.L.I.
PTE Frederick Wardman R.C.A.
1919
PTE William Wise 8th D.L.I.
1920
PTE Henry Overton 2nd YORKS.
PTE Robert Wilkinson Yule 8th D.L.I.
East face
1939 –
1945
Bramfitt E. Kelsey G.
Burdon J.W. Plank G.W.
Carroll J. Reynolds J.G.
Denton T.W. Swinton T.
Farnsworth R. Waterson J.W.
Websites Full details from the North East War Memorials Project, accessed 12/11/19 from http://www.newmp.org.uk/detail.php?contentId=9194
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