THE death a fortnight ago of the 11th Baron Barnard, Harry John Neville Vane, has caused us to peer into The Northern Echo's photo-library.
Lord Barnard, who was 92, had inherited the title from his father in 1964. His direct descendants have owned the family seat of Raby Castle, near Staindrop, since 1626 when Sir Henry Vane the Elder purchased it from the Crown as it had been confiscated from the Nevill family, who had built it in the 14th Century, in 1569 because they were on the wrong side of the Rising of the North.
County Durham has very few members of its landed gentry still in place, so let's have a little look at what our photo-library can show us of them and their fabulous castle.
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