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Underlined Text & Images are used for Hyper-Links to more Relevant Information

Last modified: March 02, 2004

Gateway to the Border Reivers Country

Newcastle upon Tyne & Gateshead

Newcastle was given it's present name by Robert the son of William the Conqueror who built a wood fort in 1080 on reaching the Tyne after his farther had invaded Britain in 1066.

Originally an important military outpost of the Roman Empire located on Hadrian's Wall called Pons Aelius, having previously been called Monkchester by the Anglo Saxons.

It was rebuilt of stone almost a hundred years later in 1177 and later became a County in the fifteenth century when it became a trading centre, although it didn't become a City officially until 1882 after it became the centre of the Industrial Revolution.

Grey Street, Newcastle - I.Lindsay

When the centre of the City had already rebuilt by the architects Dobson, Clayton and Grainger whose names remain on the streets through the majestic buildings they erected.

Earl Grey stands 135 feet high at the head of a street named after him  overlooking the famous five now seven Tyne bridges.

The most famous of which was built by the same Teesside Bridge Engineers that erected the Sydney Harbour Bridge completed in 1932.

 Contrary to popular local myth the Tyne Bridge although similar and completed first and opened by King George V 1928, was designed last and not a prototype down under, which was in fact fabricated on Teesside and transported around the world for assembly.

The latest Millennium Tyne Bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 during her Jubilee Tour of Britain.

 Being a pedestrian Bridge between the Newcastle Quayside and the Baltic Arts Centre and Opera House on the Gateshead side making it the Social and Cultural centre of the revitalised twin Cities

 

Tyne Shipyard Cranes by Ivan Lindsay

Newcastle is located on the river Tyne famous as the centre of the Industrial Revolution at a time when the banks of the river were a mass of shipyards and Heavy Industrial workshops which supplied the world with Coal, Ore and Machinery.

Only a core of original industry remains having moved into Offshore Oil & Gas construction during the later half of the Twentieth Century.

Wallsend on Tyne as the name states this is the east end of Hadrian's Wall with a piece of wall being in the Swan Hunter Shipyard on the river side. On demolishing the shipyard workers terraced home recently the remains of a Roman Settlement were found.  SEGEDUNUM Roman Fort, Baths & Museum is now fully excavated and open to view along with a reconstructed piece of wall as it would have been in AD 410 when the Romans withdrew and returned to Rome. This site is easily accessed from Tyneside, Metro Rapid Transit system. Tel: 0191-295-5757

Segedunum Visitors Centre

Tyneside Metro Rapid Transit System

The Juvan Art Gallery is between Tynemouth & Cullercoats on the Tyneside Metro which runs in a loop from Newcastle upon Tyne Central Rail Station through the North Tyneside Coastal Resorts, with spurs running to and from Newcastle International Airport and also through South Tyneside to South Shields.


Gosforth Park

In 1166 a small village of to the north of Newcas­tle called "Goseford" had derived its name from the Old English mean­ing Goose Ford and the ford over the Ouse Burn which ran through it.  Charles Steel explains that the pronunciation and spelling changed as it did with nearly all town and vil­lages as they developed into what is now known as Gosforth. 
In 1887 Bulmer's History and Directory of Northumberland describes Gosforth as an important parish on the north side of Newcas­tle divided into the townships of North Gosforth, South Gosforth, CoxIodge, Kenton, Fawdon, and East and West Brunton.
NORTH GOSFORTH comprised the area to the north of the Ouse Burn which now encompasses Gosforth Park. Gosforth House was built by the wealthy Brandling family in 1760 within the park and sold in 1852 when the Brandlings were bankrupt with more than 2,000 acres of land.

In 1880 the High Gosforth Park Company was formed, and bought the house with 807 acres of land to lay out Newcastle Racecourse and make various alterations and improvements to the park itself.
Three Mile Bridge was originally a small hamlet, named after the bridge that carried the main Mor­peth road over the Ouse Burn. There is still a bridge crossing the Ouse Burn at this location, which is directly next to the Three Mile Inn on the Great North Road.
SOUTH GOSFORTH was separat­ed from North Gosforth by the Ouse Burn. Its antiquity stretched back to Saxon times, and in 1319 the English army encamped there en route to the siege of Berwick.
The Brandling family had financed the sinking of Gosforth colliery which began in 1825 on land on the south bank of the Ouse Burn, it was was short‑lived and closed four years later when it ran into unexpected mining diffi­culties.
Salters' Bridge dates back to the 13th century, and crosses the Ouse Burn near to Killingworth Road. It was so called because it stood on the old salters’ peth which ran from Hartley salt pans up to Blanchland, The route through Gosforth was known as Salters' Lane ‑ part of which became what is now Salters Road. The bridge, originally seven feet wide, has been widened over the years, but still retains much of its original stonework.
Haddrick's Mill stood with a small group of houses on the south‑east boundary of the parish near Jesmond. The origins of the name are uncertain, but it is probably derived from the Hatherwicke family, one of whom was the parish clerk in 1577.
In a parish register dated 1753 it is listed as Hatherick's Mill. There is also a story that the name was derived from a notorious Danish freebooter named Hendrik or Hadderick, who made the dene beside the mill his home in defiance of the authorities.

COXLODGE's inhabitants were mainly coal miners working at the nearby CoxIodge col­liery which was started in 1805 by the Bran­dling family and produced around 700 tons of coal per day from the 50 men and boys.
CoxIodge Hall was built in 1796 by Job Bul­man, a medical man originally from Gateshead who had made his fortune in India, and who lived there until his death in 1818. The hall, which stood on the north side of what is now The Drive at Gosforth, changed hands sev­eral times before it burned down in 1877 (it was rebuilt two years later). Occupants included the famous soap manufacturer Thornas Hedley and shipbuilding magnate Andrew Leslie.
By the 1930s much of the CoxIodge estate had been sold off for suburban development and the hall became a private school which survived until 1939, but all that remain now are the stables ‑ which are used as offices ‑ along with a lodge. Bulman Village dated from about 1825 and was named after the owner of CoxIodge Hall, who sold off this por­tion of his estate for building purposes. It occupied the area which could be regarded as the centre of modern ­day Gosforth. The largest building being the police station, which was built in Hawthorn Road in 1885. At the time it was described as a substantial red­brick building fitted with all modern conveniences, including mess room, offices, sitting room and bath­room ‑ plus four cells for the detention of prisoners, and accommodation for the deputy chief constable, two sergeants and several constables.

Gosforth High Street
Over the years the name of Bulman Village fell into virtual extinction as the name Gosforth was increasingly substituted. A carved stone plaque above one of the buildings in Gosforth High Street is probably the only indication today that it ever existed.
CoxIodge Asylum, often referred to as the lunatic asylum for the City of Newcastle, stands not too far from the old CoxIodge village. Building work began in 1865 ‑ a gigantic project to house around 130 patients with a further 35 acres to enclose it within its walled grounds. Further improvements were made to increase patient numbers by 170, and in 1886 the average number of patients was 291.
CoxIodge Asylum, often referred to as the lunatic asylum for the City of Newcastle, stands not too far from the old CoxIodge village. Building work began in 1865 ‑ a gigantic project to house around 130 patients with a further 35 acres to enclose it within its walled grounds. Further improvements were made to increase patient numbers by 170, and in 1886 the average number of patients was 291.
Over the years its status changed and, for a time between 1914 and 1918, it became a hospital for First World War casualties. The premises later became better known as St Nicholas' Hospital, and although many of the fine stone buildings remain, much of the land has now been sold off for housing development.
KENTON was the largest township in the parish. There are two theories about how it got its name, the first being that because the original village was situated on high ground (the area now known as Kenton Bar), it could be "kenned" or seen from many miles away.
The other possibility is that in 1242 the name was written as "Kyngton" or "Kington", and therefore derived its name from this spelling. It is uncertain what connection, if any, it had with royalty, but the nearby area of Kingston Park is probably a later derivation of this name. Coal was also mined in Kenton from the mid‑1700s until the opening of CoxIodge colliery in 1805.
Kenton Quarry. which ceased production in the 1920s, stood on the area of land just west of what is now Creighton Avenue. Thousands of millstones and grind­stones quarried here were exported all over the world and was used for the construction of many of Newcastle's public buildings. including St Thomas's Church,Jesmond cemetery, and the old town hall.

FAWDON dates back to 1242 when the Old English spelling was "Fag‑Dun", meaning a multicoloured hill. Originally Fawdon was part of the Barony of Whalton, but it later passed to the ownership of the Haselrigg fam­ily, eventually to form part of Gosforth parish.
EAST and WEST BRUNTON (originally "Burn Ton') were settlements by the burn and although existing side by side the two Bruntons were included in different baronies with one belonging to Bolam, and the other to Styford. Little is known of the manorial role until they both came into the possession of the Haselrigg family, again to form part of the parish of Gosforth.
In the early nineteen hundreds Gosforth Park became the Northern Terminus of Newcastle Cities First Metropolitan Transit system, the horseless Trams brought workers and Horse Racing Spectators from the City Centre out to the then edge of rural Northumberland.

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