Brignall, North Riding

Description
Brignall, a village, a township, and a parish in the N. R. Yorkshire, near the Tees, on an affluent of that river, 3 1/2miles SE of Barnard Castle railway station. The township contains part of Greta-Bridge, with a post office under Barnard Castle, which is the telegraph office; money order office, Barningham. Acreage, 2120; population, 131. Most of the property belongs to the lord of the manor. Slate quarries are worked. A Roman camp is adjacent to Greta-Bridge, and a Roman road went thence to the Tees at Pierse-Bridge and to the Swale at Catterick-Bridge. The scenery is picturesque, and runs up to Scargill cliff and woods, sung by Scott in his Rokeby. Brignall banks themselves are thus sung in that poem:£ 0 Brignall banks are wild and fair, And Greta woods are green; And you may gather garlands there Would grace a summer queen.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ripon; net value, £266 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Ripon. The church, built in 1833-34, is in the Early English style. Some rums of the ancient church still remain. The old font has been preserved, and is still in use; also the pre-Reformation bell with the inscription£Are Maria Gratia Plena.