Newcastle upon Tyne
 Castles |
At its most easterly, the mighty wall of Hadrian originally terminated at a Roman fortress called Pons Aulius , modern day Newcastle. The wall by and large followed the course of Newcastle's Westgate Road, which in turn was built along the line of a Roman defensive ditch running just to the north. Throughout the period of Roman occupation the fort of Pons Aulius played a significant role in guarding a crucial bridge across the River Tyne. Pons is Latin for ‘bridge', thus Pons Aulius referred to both bridge and fort at Newcastle. In point of fact, Pons Aulius may be translated to mean ‘the Bridge of Hadrian', as Aulius was the Emperor's family name. At a later Roman period the wall was extended eastward by another three miles to a fortress called Segedunum , now known appropriately as Wallsend. During the succeeding years of the Anglo-Saxon period, the vicinity of the old Roman fort at Newcastle became known as Monkchester after a small community of monks who settled in the area.
With the Norman occupation of England early in the 11 th century, William the Conqueror's eldest son Robert Curthose held sway in the north east, and on returning from a particularly bloody raid into Scotland recognised the need for a stronghold in the vicinity. He built his new fortress at Monkchester, on the very site of old Pons Aulius , and called it his ‘New Castle' - an act that brought into being Newcastle.
The New Castle, built of earth and timber, performed its defensive duties adequately until 1095 when it was seized by rebellious Norman barons under the leadership of Robert de Mowbray, the Earl of Northumberland. King William Rufus quashed the rebellion and captured the New Castle. In 1172, with Henry II on the throne, the castle was rebuilt in stone by Mauricious Caementarius and most of the stonework of the present keep dates from this period. In about 1250, a barbican known as the Black Gate was added to the castle; this may still be seen in situ today. By 1618 the Black Gate had been converted into a dwelling place by the addition of roof and windows.
In 1265, the burgesses of Newcastle decided to supplement the defences of the castle with the building of town walls to protect them from the incursions of Scottish raiders. The encircling Newcastle walls extended for over two miles and were never less than 7ft thick and up to 25ft high - both castle and Black Gate were enclosed within them. The town wall included six main gateways, seventeen towers and a number of smaller lookout turrets. The most impressive surviving section of old wall today is a western stretch located near Stowell Street, where the remains of four towers are in evidence. One tower near City Road has a small gateway called the Sally Port, from which defenders would sally forth against an enemy.
The medieval walled town became an important stronghold in the northern defences against marauding Scots. Its military importance stimulated trade and commerce and the expanding town of Newcastle developed into a major seaport. By 1300 the town's status was such that it was permitted to appoint its own mayor and by 1400 became a county in its own right, independent of Northumberland, which lay outside its walls. Rope making, shipbuilding and glass making were among early trades to develop in Newcastle, but its most important and lucrative industry was the mining and export of coal.
The oldest quarter of Newcastle is the Quayside, which was until the 19 th century the commercial hub of all Tyneside. Most historical of the buildings in the Quayside are the keep of the Norman castle and the adjacent 14 th century church of St Nicholas with its famous lantern tower. St Nicholas became a cathedral-church in 1882 when the diocese of Newcastle was created from northern portions of the diocese of Durham - Newcastle subsequently gained the title of city. Close to the cathedral is a road called Sandhill, wherein are some of the oldest remaining houses of the Newcastle Quayside; dating from the 16 th to 18 th centuries they were once home to wealthy merchants.
At the western end of Quayside is a street called Sandgate, remembered as the home of a famous Newcastle community called the Keel Men. Unique to the region they were highly skilled boatmen who handled the movement of coal from the riverside to ships on the Tyne. They took their name from their small vessels called Keels, which could carry around 20-Tons of coal. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 19 th century, the need for Keel Men diminished until they were virtually non-existent. The Keel community of Sandgate, the most populous section of Newcastle in the preceding two centuries, died with its trade.
The world famous Newcastle landmarks that dominate the River Tyne are the six bridges that link the city to Gateshead on the south bank of the river. Of these six the arching George V Bridge, more commonly referred to as the Tyne Bridge, is by far the best-known feature of Tyneside. Opened in 1929 by King George V it served as a model for the similar, though much larger, Sydney Harbour Bridge - both built, incidentally, at Middlesbrough. Oldest of Newcastle's Tyne bridges is the High Level Bridge erected in 1848 to the designs of Robert Stephenson; it comprises two tiers, for road and rail.
The heart of Newcastle is centred round its fine city centre streets, which in many ways set it apart from most other northern cities that grew so rapidly during the Industrial Revolution. The classical features of Grainger Street and Clayton Street are of particular note, but most impressive is Grey Street, described by Prime Minister Gladstone in 1862 as ‘our best modern street'. It is named after another Prime Minister, Earl Grey (1830-4), a Northumbrian by birth.