More information : Area centred NY 793 139. Church Brough was established about 1092-
1100 as a planned market town dependent upon the castle (see NY 71
SE 1), but was probably never completed. It declined in importance
as a commercial community grew up half a mile to the north at Market
Brough on the Stainmore Road. Church Brough is now little more than
a cluster of farms around the church and castle. (1)
Listed. (2)
NY 795 138. Excavations in 1972 at the southern end of the existing
village showed that, from its foundation in about 1100, Church
Brough grew quickly in this direction and until early modern times
was more extensive than at present. Two building complexes were
examined. The southern contained a late medieval stone building of
which two wings remained,together with a well preserved cobbled
yard. Roughly contemporary with this building was a stone-built farm
in the area to the north. This comprised a rectangular house and
separate byre, constructed in the 14th-15th century, both of which
had been heavily robbed. Earlier buildings on this site were of
timber built in two phases, and probably 12th-13th century date. (3)
Final excavation report and discussion. (4)
At Brough, a new town grew up under the protection of the castle. To
the north of the market place, behind the present houses, are the
burgage plots of the medieval settlement, and to the south is the
parish church of St Michael, a Norman foundation, though much of it
dates from the later medieval period. The settlement never developed
fully due to the growth of Market Brough, 0.8km to the north astride
the medieval highway from Stainmore to Penrith. (5)
Centred NY 793 140. The original medieval street pattern of Church
Brough has survived as well as some of the earthworks of the garden
plots on the fringes, but in general the medieval village is overlaid
by relatively modern housing. (6)
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