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).

Another open day is on Saturday 21 June from 10am-2pm, followed by a fundraising concert by close harmony vocal group Durham Harmonics (tickets here ).

Beaurepaire restoration on the BBC

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.

Information from the site noticeboard, the excellent DurhamCow website and This is Durham website.

Beaurepaire Manor is a community conservation and heritage restoration project next to Witton Gilbert. Photo: Tom Minney