Christopher Vane, 1st Baron Barnard

Christopher Vane, 1st Baron Barnard (21 May 1653 – 28 October 1723) was an English peer. He is known for his disputes with his heirs and for employing Peter Smart, father of the poet Christopher Smart, as a steward.

Christopher Vane was the son of Henry Vane the Younger. He inherited Raby Castle, Durham and Fairlawne, Kent, on the beheading of his father at Tower Hill in 1662. Vane was MP for County Durham from 1675 to 1679, and a Whig sitting for Boroughbridge from 1689 to 1690 (when his election was overturned on petition). He was made a Privy counsellor in 1688, and in 1698, was created Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle by William III.

During his time at Raby Castle, Christopher hired John Bazire and Peter Smart, father of Christopher Smart. A struggle between his wife and his daughter-in-law Lucy Jolliffe ensued after 1703 and Christopher refused to pay the inheritance annuity to his son, William, after William was to be given the Fairlawne estate. Christopher accomplished this task by giving Fairlawne and Raby Castle to John Bazire and Peter Smart "for the use of the said Lord Barnard and his heirs forever." William took a lawsuit over the inheritance to the House of Lords, and during this time Christopher and his wife lived at Raby Castle.

When his son Gilbert married Mary Randyll, Elizabeth started a quarrel with her daughter-in-law, which forced Christopher and Elizabeth to move back to Fairlawne. Mary was described as "scandalous" by Christopher Vane (and it thought that her daughter, Anne Vane, followed her mother's example. In 1712, Christopher hired John Proud, the steward of Raby Castle, to engage 200 workmen to strip the castle. Owen Stanley Scott described the way that the castle was stripped:

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