He buylded the Newcastell upon Tyne
The Scottes to gaynstande and to defend
And dwell therein, the people to enclyne,
The towns to builde and walle as did append
He gave then ground and golde fulgrete to spend
To buylde it well and walle it all about,
And fraunchised theim to pay a free rente out
From John Hardyng’s Chronicle (1378 – 1465)
A few weeks ago, I paid a visit to the castle that gave Newcastle its name. Yep, the 'New' Castle though it's not so new these days. In truth, the current 'New' castle is the second to carry that name. Its predecessor was built around 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert ‘Curthose’ (that sobriquet can be translated as ’shorty’ - and probably wasn’t used in his presence). The castle Robert built was of a 'motte-and-bailey' type with a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (the motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (the bailey)
Some fifteen years later, it was a rebellion by the Earl of Northumbria against the then King, William Rufus, another of William the Conqueror's sons, which saw the first capture of Robert’s original castle. Rufus soon sent an army north to crush the revolt and successfully recapture the castle; however, the north remained a rebellious territory. So much so that Henry II, William the Conqueror's grandson, decided that the wooden structure was not strong enough to repel any future rebellion. This prompted the building of the current stone structure. On its completion in 1177, it became crown property, an essential base from which future Kings or Queens of England could control their, still prone to rebellion, northern barons.
Until that first ‘new’ wooden castle was built, the settlement on the banks of the Tyne carried the name Monkchester. No one knows why, but the name's implication indicates a primarily ecclesiastical settlement.
The reason for my visit to the castle was to attend a talk by Ken Smith, a northeastern writer and historian, on some of the history of Newcastle. The castle was, therefore, an apt setting. It was an engaging talk that took the audience on a journey from the time of the Romans to more recent and more friendly immigrants—the Chinese sailors who arrived at the end of the Victorian era.
Ken began by sharing that it was in the early 2nd Century that the Romans built the first bridge across the River Tyne. Belief is that the bridge, ‘Pons Aelius ‘, named after the family name Aelius of the then Emperor Hadrian, stood where the Swing Bridge now stands. This was the same Hadrian who set about building a wall across the north of England to keep out foreign 'invaders'. The 'England-Scotland' border now lies much further north than in Roman times, as the eastern edge of Hadrian's Wall ran through the centre of modern-day Newcastle.
Moving on to the medieval period Ken talked of the first 'Tyne Bridge', built in the 13th Century that stretched across the river, again where the Swing Bridge sits today. That bridge stood for over five hundred years before its destruction by floods in the late 1700s.In appearance, it was not unlike other mediaeval bridges with shops, houses and, in this case, a prison built upon it. A little after that first Tyne Bridge began the construction of a wall around the town. Funded by raising a tax on the residents who were comfortable paying it given the need for the wall to help repel Scottish invaders. Yep, after over a thousand years, those from Scotland continued to seek to visit Newcastle's attractions. Nowadays, visitors from afar come to Newcastle for a night of clubbing. I suspect those invading Scots were after a different sort of 'clubbing'.
Of course, Ken could not talk of Newcastle without mention of coal mining. In the late 12th Century, the first significant coal mining began around Newcastle. An industry now linked forever with the city and one that lasted some nine hundred years before the closing of the last deep mine in 2005. And with mining came the Keelmen, of which I wrote in a piece earlier this year and of whom Ken spoke on the critical part they played in growing Newcastle as an industrial and trading centre.
Given Newcastle's dangerous industries and challenging living conditions, Ken touched on social history, specifically the first hospital built by subscription in 1753. The families of those subscribing had a first call on admission should they fall ill. And many did fall ill. So many, in fact, that even an expanded hospital could not cope. The solution of putting two patients in a bed wouldn't happen today, although that's one way of solving a shortage of beds!
Not surprisingly, Ken mentioned Joseph Swan, of whom I've also written in an earlier piece. However, Ken also spoke of the much lesser-known John Mawson, Swan's brother-in-law, and fellow partner in the Manufacturing Chemical company they ran together. It was from that company that the first incandescent light bulbs emerged. Unfortunately, Mawson fell victim to a tragedy on Newcastle's town moor in 1867 when, as the then Sheriff of Newcastle, he supervised the disposal of some nitro-glycerine by burying it. Sadly, the nitro-glycerine turned the tables and exploded, burying John and seven others.
Along with coal mining, shipbuilding was the other great industry of the Northeast. At the end of the 19th Century, northeast shipyards were building half of the world's shipping. Ken ended the talk by speaking of the large Chinese naval delegation sent to Newcastle in the late 1880s to take possession of two cruisers, Jing Yuan and Zhiyuen, built on the Tyne. Sadly, some of that delegation died of disease while in Newcastle. Their burial in a local cemetery was with much honour, and local people still carefully tend their graves today. Interestingly a Japanese ship built in that same northeastern shipyard sunk the Zhiyuen during the Sino-Japanese War of the 1890s.
In a stunning setting, Ken's talk offered a fascinating insight into a tiny sliver of Newcastle's rich history.
So many nuggets of information. The biggest one being that Newcastle was building half the world’s shipping in the late Victorian era.
Yes, an interesting talk and while I knew some of Newcastle's history I discovered new stuff too. Slight correction re your understanding, I mentioned it was northeast shipyards that built half the world's shipping. Wouldn't want to upset those from Sunderland!! 😉