Editing Barnard Castle (section)

==Notable visitors ==
[[File:The castle at Barnard Castle - by Francis Hannaway.jpg|thumb|The ruins of [[Barnard Castle (castle)|Barnard Castle]], which gave the town its name]] 
<!-- Not a baronet ("Sir") until 1820. -->[[Walter Scott]] frequently visited his friend, John Sawrey Morritt, at [[Rokeby Park|Rokeby Hall]], and was fond of exploring [[Teesdale]]. He begins his epic poem ''[[Rokeby (poem)|Rokeby]]'' (1813) with a man standing on guard on the round tower of the Barnard Castle fortress.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Barnard Castle, in Teesdale and County Durham – Map and description |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/111 |website=visionofbritain.org.uk |access-date=4 May 2014 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201043608/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/111 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Charles Dickens]] (Boz) and his illustrator, [[Hablot Browne]] (Phiz), stayed at the King's Head in Barnard Castle, while researching his novel, ''Nicholas Nickleby'', in the winter of 1837–38. He is said to have entered William Humphrey's clock-maker's shop, then, opposite the hotel, and enquired who had made a certain remarkable clock. William replied that his boy, Humphrey, had done it. This seems to have prompted Dickens to choose the title "Master Humphrey's Clock" for his new weekly, in which ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' and ''Barnaby Rudge'' appeared.<ref>{{Cite news |title=BBC News – Exhibition explores Charles Dickens' links with County Durham |work=BBC News |date=6 February 2012 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-16599182 |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=1 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101023447/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-16599182 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jordan |first1=John O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPe7uCbGvPUC&q=charles+dickens+barnard+castle&pg=PA26 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens |last2=John |first2=Jordan O. |date=18 June 2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521669641 |access-date=24 November 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418144024/https://books.google.com/books?id=wPe7uCbGvPUC&q=charles+dickens+barnard+castle&pg=PA26#v=snippet&q=charles%20dickens%20barnard%20castle&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Barnard Castle Blue Plaque Trail |url=http://www.teesdalediscovery.com/blue_plaque_trail.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716154259/http://www.teesdalediscovery.com/blue_plaque_trail.htm |archive-date=16 July 2014 |website=teesdalediscovery.com}}</ref>

[[William Wordsworth]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Places Visited and Letters Written: 1798–1800 |url=http://collections.wordsworth.org.uk/GtoG/home.asp?page=GtoG1aSummaryofPlacesVisited |website=Wordsworth.org.uk |access-date=4 June 2012 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402182037/http://collections.wordsworth.org.uk/GtoG/home.asp?page=GtoG1aSummaryofPlacesVisited |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Daniel Defoe]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vision of Britain – Daniel Defoe – Letter 8, Part 4: Leeds and North Yorkshire |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Defoe&c_id=32 |website=Bisionofbritain.org.uk |access-date=4 June 2012 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528203526/https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Defoe&c_id=32 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=XI. English Traits. Aristocracy. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. 1909–14. Essays and English Traits. The Harvard Classics |url=http://www.bartleby.com/5/211.html |website=Bartleby.com |access-date=4 June 2012 |archive-date=2 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602010924/http://bartleby.com/5/211.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Hilaire Belloc]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Belloc |first=Hilaire |title=On getting respected in inns and hotels |url=http://essays.quotidiana.org/belloc/getting_respected_in_inns_and_hotels/ |website=Quotidiana.org |access-date=4 June 2012 |archive-date=13 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113043909/http://essays.quotidiana.org/belloc/getting_respected_in_inns_and_hotels/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Bill Bryson]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dickinson |first=Katie |date=25 September 2016 |title=How kind will Bill Bryson be on the North East? |url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/bill-bryson-known-brutal-travel-11924468 |website=nechronicle |access-date=21 July 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041525/http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/bill-bryson-known-brutal-travel-11924468 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the artist [[J. M. W. Turner]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barnard Castle: The Castle and Bridge looking Upstream, Joseph Mallord William Turner – Tate |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-barnard-castle-and-bridge-from-downstream-d00936 |website=Tate.org.uk |access-date=4 June 2012 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528224129/https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-barnard-castle-the-castle-and-bridge-looking-upstream-d00936/ |url-status=live }}</ref> have also visited the town.

In May 2020, Barnard Castle came to national attention when [[Dominic Cummings]], the chief adviser of the [[British Prime Minister]], [[Boris Johnson]], was [[Dominic Cummings scandal|discovered to have driven to the town]], with his family, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]. He was, at that time, at a significant risk of having the disease himself, because of recent contact with the infected Prime Minister. (Cummings developed symptoms the next day.) Following media allegations that he had broken lockdown regulations by driving to the town, he told how he drove there to test his eyesight, to reassure his wife that he was able to drive them back to London the next day.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-05-26 |title=A site for sore eyes? How Dominic Cummings put Barnard Castle on the map |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/may/26/a-site-for-sore-eyes-how-dominic-cummings-put-barnard-castle-on-the-map |access-date=2020-05-27 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528203509/https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/may/26/a-site-for-sore-eyes-how-dominic-cummings-put-barnard-castle-on-the-map |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-05-25 |title=No 10 'chaos' as 'defiant' PM defends Cummings |language=en-GB |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |location=UK |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-52793529 |access-date=2020-05-27 |archive-date=26 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526041814/https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-52793529 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Keating |first=Joshua |date=2020-05-26 |title=Why Is the U.K. in an Uproar Over a Boris Johnson Adviser's COVID Road Trip? |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/dominic-cummings-durham-johnson.html |access-date=2020-05-27 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528090439/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/dominic-cummings-durham-johnson.html |url-status=live }}</ref>