The castle was originally founded many centuries ago by the chief of the Anglo Saxon BULMER FAMILY whose last male heir, Bertram Bulmer had a daughter called Emma who married GILBERT DE NEUVILLE , a Norman baron who had come to England with William the Conqueror. De Neuville’s descendants were called the Nevilles and were the owners of Brancepeth Castle until the sixteenth century.

In 1569 Brancepeth was confiscated from the Nevilles by the crown following their involvement in a plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I called THE RISING OF THE NORTH. The Nevilles had been the chief instigators of this rising which had been plotted at Brancepeth and Raby Castle with the assistance of the Percys who were the most powerful family in Northumberland.

The next owner was Sir Henry Bellaysyse, whose daughter Mary fell in love with BOBBY SHAFTO who lived at Whitworth Hall near Spennymoor just across the River Wear from Brancepeth. Miss Bellaysyse’s love for Bobby became the subject of a very famous north country song but alas Mr Shafto had eyes for someone else and Mary is said to have died of a broken heart.