📌 Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
★★★★
Newcastle Castle (is there an echo…?) gave Newcastle upon Tyne its modern name, and stands between the city’s shopping district and the River Tyne. It’s not immediately obvious nowadays due to the surrounding buildings, but the 12th century castle keep occupies a logical defensive site with the ground dropping away steeply on three sides, and overlies an earlier motte and bailey castle. A hundred metres or so to the northwest is the distinctive Black Gate, added in the 13th century as an outer gateway to the bailey. When Newcastle’s Town Walls were constructed the castle lost some of its importance and was ruinous by the late 1500s, despite later refortification during the English Civil War. The enclosed “garth” in between the keep and the Black Gate was populated by shops and houses over the next two centuries, becoming a fully-fledged “town-in-miniature” which at times fell under a separate jurisdiction to the rest of the city.
Eventually these internal buildings were cleared, and the keep and Black Gate restored, but the construction of the main railway line east out of Newcastle Central station sliced through the land in between, permanently severing the visual connection between barbican and keep. Today, visits to the castle begin with an exhibition inside the Black Gate, but a short walk is then required. The walk ends with a steep set of stairs to enter the keep, but this pales in comparison to the hundreds of steps connecting the four floors inside! The ultimate reward is the rooftop view, which is perhaps the finest in Newcastle accessible to the public.
🌍 Location
📌 Castle Garth, 10-min walk south of Grey’s Monument, Newcastle city centre
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NZ 250639
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 54.968857,-1.610380
🚆🚇 Newcastle Central | 🚌 St Nicholas Street
🚗 Street parking / car parks nearby (both with charge)
📝 Key info
⌚ Daily, April to October; Thursday to Monday, November to March
🎫 £12.50 adult / £8.20 child
