Sunday 19 October 2014

Frances Margaret Dobson (née Green) bought the castle in 1979 after a life in publishing with the firm Dobson Books.

After living here for three and a half decades she died in 2014 at the age of 86.

The Independent Obituary

The Independent featured an obituary that told her remarkable story.

Margaret Dobson had two careers: the first in publishing, and the second running a medieval castle in the north of England. That she managed even one was extraordinary as she had been born with asthma. An invalid life awaited her, she was told, and, unless she avoided all exertion, a short one. But she died aged 86 after a life richly fulfilled in ways that no one could have imagined then.

Northern Echo Obituary

Margaret Dobson bought the centuries-old Brancepeth Castle, in County Durham, in the late 1970s, following a chance visit.

She then made it her family home, as well as renting out rooms to tenants.

Over the years, she ran many craft and gift fairs and concerts in the castle, was a staunch supporter of The Children’s Society and a prominent member of the community in Brancepeth village and its St Brandon’s Church.