Bambrough history

 
I'm refreshing myself on the history of Bamburgh in Northumberland, England, UK to try help with solving the mystery in our Bambrough ancestry.

Interesting facts about Bambrough/Bamborough/Bamburgh.

Bamburgh Castle. It was originally a Celtic/British fort called Din Guardi, and was possibly the capital of the Celtic/British kingdom of Bernicia/Gododdin ca 420-547. Some think the castle was the location of Lancelot's Joyous Garde of King Arthur stories. Passed between Britons and Angles 3 times ca 547-590. It was the seat of the former kings of Bernicia/Northumberland Ida Fflamddwyn "flamebearer"(547-559) & Hussa & Aethelfrith (ca 593-604) from ca 547/590. (Ida's wife/queen was Bearnoch.) Aethelfrith passed the castle to his wife Queen Bebba in ca 600/615 (from whom the castle takes its name Bebban-burh). (In Bede Bebba is just called "a former queen" without any mention of Aethelfrith. so she might not have been Aethelfrith's wife, she might have been Ida's, and some other earlier queen. I think I saw somewhere that her name is Celtic/British?) In 793 Vikings appeared off Bamurghs coast and landed at Lindisfarne. From 867 to 933/934 it may have been the de facto capital of an independent north-east Northumbria. Under Athelstan of Wessex and Edmund I 933-939. Under Norse/Viking rule 939-944. Under Edmund I 944-946. Under earls/ealdormen/reeves 946-1041. Destroyed by Vikings in 993. United to Northumbria 1041-1065. Under Osulf II 1065-1067. William the Conquerer ca 1066. United with Northumbria from 1067. 1069-1070 Harrying of the North. In 1095 William Rufus captured Bamburgh. Robert de Mowbray "Percy" ("pierce eye") owned the castle in 1095. The castle was owned by the English monarch between 1095 to ca 1191. Sometime in 1124-1153 David built Bamburgh's keep (one of several times Bamburgh fell into Scottish hands). 1135-1154 Bamburgh in possession of King Stephen. The Forsters were owners/lords of the castle in later times (1191-...). Philip of Oldcoates controlled the castle in King John's reign. 1272-1307 Edward I ventured to Bamburgh. 1307-1327 Edward II ventured to Bamburgh. 1327-1377 Edward III ventured to Bamburgh. In the late 1300s Sir Henry/Harry Hotspur controlled the castle. In 1462 Bamburgh was a Lancastrian stronghold (Henry VI). 1462 Richard Neville Earl of Warwick Edward IV's lieutenant beseiged the castle. Control of the castle restored to Ralph Percy. Lancastrian French & Scottish troops arrive at the castle. 1464 siege of Bamburgh. (Lancastrian garrison under Sir Ralph Grey.) The castle was included in the property of friars seized on the behalf of Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Forster's owned the castle from the mid 1500s to ca 1700. It was sold to Lord Crew Bishop of Durham in 1704 and he placed the castle in the hands of a board of trustees chaired by Thomas Sharp Archdeacon of Northumberland, and then by his son John Sharp. The castle was bought by industrialist William Armstrong in 1894, and the Armstrongs still own it.

Bamburgh village, Northumberland. A late medieval village that developed near the castle. St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh was a church built built by St Aidan outside the castle wall in 635. Bamburgh is known for its association with Grace Darling.

Bamburgh Lighthouse was built in 1910.

Bamburgh Parish has 2 chapelries and 22 townships.

Bamburgh Beast, a gold plaque discovered in archaeological excavations at Bamburgh Castle.

Bamburgh Sword, disovered in archaeological excavations in Bamburgh Castle. Might be Ida's sword maybe?

Bamburgh Dunes, a site of special scientific interest.
Bamburgh Coast and Hills is also a site of special scientific interest.

Bamburgh Clinic, an extension of St Nicholas Hospital, Newcastle.

HMS Bamborough Castle was the name of a Royal Navy corvette in 1944.

Bamburgh Research Project investigates the archaeology and history of the castle and area.

Famous Bambroughs include:
Renford Bambrough, a British philospher, 1926-1999.
Sean Bambrough, free lance journalist in South Africa.
John Bamborough, British scholar of English literature and founder of Linacre college (Oxford).
Waltheof I ealdorman of Bamburgh ca 1006.
Laura Bambrough "L'Wren Scott", American fashion designer, costume designer, model, 1964-2014.
I could add myself Sean Bambrough, an independent researcher of history and mysteries and some other subjects who has made a number of seeming possible discoveries including Atlantis capital city (Tiahuanaco), and Alexander the Great's tomb (Taposiris Magna).
My father said his father said we are descended from a "Prussian prince" or "German prince" via a marine engineer, and another Bambrough from Newcastle said his family have the same tradition. Though I haven't been able to find any such link, so it might be a myth/mistake.
Bamburgh Baronets 1607-1631.

Similar names:
Bamberg a town/city in in Bavaria (Germany), also an early ruling dynasty of Austria, and name of Jewish Catholic prince bishops of Bamberg.
Bemborough (as in Sir Robert Bemborough who was at the Combat of the Thirty in 1351. He relied on the Prophecy of Merlin. His surname may be from either Pembrooke or Brandebourch).
Banbury, a town in England.
Brandenberg, north-east Germany, once part of Prussia under the Hohenzollerns.

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My father claimed his father told him we are descended from a "Prussian prince" or a "German prince" via a marine engineer. Another Bambrough from Newcastle said they have the same story/tradition in their family too. But I have not found any connection with any Prussian or German prince, nor where my family links back to the family of the person in Newcastle. There are also two conlficting versions of our family tree as follows.

11. Thomas Bambrough + Ann Hood b 1669
10. Thomas Bambrough 1703 + Margaret Nixon 1705
9. Thomas Bambrough 1721-1800 + Margaret Jennings 1725-1762
8. John Bambrough b 1754/1755 + Isabel Forster/Maugham/Archer of Fellside 1753 (m 1755/1781?)
7. John Bambrough 1786/1787/1788/1789 + Dorothy Storey (m 1817) or Elizabeth Lonsdale (m 1828)?
6. William Bambrough 1820 engineer + Elizabeth Beylass
5. William A Bambrough 1851 + Ann Swallow (m 1873)
4. James Bambrough 1887-1918 + Margaret Beatrice Newman 1886-1928/1931 (m 1908)
3a. William Ernest (Laurence) Bambrough 1910-1984 + Ruby Constance Wildermoth 1911/1912-1979 (m 1934 NZ)
(3b. William Ernest Bambrough + Anne Patience Mcleman 1931-1984)
(2a. K... G... Bambrough (my father) + J... A... Wright)
2b. K... G... Bambrough (my father) + J... M... "E..." 1946-2020
1. V... S... W... Bambrough 1973 (me).

8. John Bambrough 1753-1833 + Elizabeth 1765-1849?
7a. William Bambrough 1794-1876 + Margaret Thompson 1801-1863 (m 1819 Durham)
7b. William Bambrough + Elizabeth Usher (m 1866 Durham)
6. James Bambrough 1825-1888 + Dorothy Heslop 1830-1900 (m 1850 Durham)
5. William Bambrough miner 1851-1916 + Ann Swallow 1850-1904 (m 1873 Durham)
4. James Bambrough 1888-1918 + Margaret Beatrice Newman 1886-1928/1931 (m 1908)
3a. William Ernest (Laurence) Bambrough 1910-1984 + Ruby Constance Wildermoth 1911/12-1979 (m 1934 NZ)
(3b. William Ernest Bambrough + Anne Patience Mcleman 1931-1984)
(2a. K... G... Bambrough (my father) + J... A... Wright)
2b. K... G... Bambrough (my father) + J... M... "E..." 1946-2020
1. V... S... W... Bambrough 1973 (me).

The second one is allegedly the correct one. But in neither can I find any link to any Prussian prince or German prince, nor any marine engineer, and something seems to be wrong somewhere. Unless the link is through the Forsters who were lords or Bamburgh castle in later middle ages. Or unless "German" was a mistake for Germanic/Teutonic Anglo-Saxon Bernician/Deiran Northumbrian Anglian dynasty of Ida or Aelle (and/or perhaps "Prussian" was due to mistakenly thinking the Angles or British came from the Baltic). (But I can't find any linke there with my limited resources. The Swinton's claim to be descended from the Northumbrian rulers.) Or unless the tradition is untrue and just arose from being nearby the prominent Bamburgh Castle.

My whole family has been totally smashed up.
My paternal grandfather shifted from UK to NZ.
My father's parents split up and both remarried.
My father had a previous marriage before he married my later mother, and my parents later split up and my mother remarried my later step father. I was fostered out about age 7 until mid-teenage years. I never met my full sister until age 11-12, and never met my real father until about age 14.
My mother's mother had an affair with a WW2 Italian POW in Nottingham, and my commonly assumed grandfather and grandmother shifted from UK to NZ.
My paternal uncle Patrick was murdered in Australia decades ago.
My paternal uncle John was murdered a number of years ago.
My full sister committed suicide in 2007.
My half brother cut me off.
I've never been able to get in contact with my paternal half sister.
I am still always been single in 40s.
My half aunty Margaret won't have contact with anyone.
My mother died of cancer in late 2020.