Couple of nights in Newcastle was just what was needed. Not been before and had heard that it was a cool place, so myself and a mate booked into the Travel Lodge on the quayside. Would certainly recommend – it was cheap, clean and very comfy and to top it all we had a river view. It also has a cafe where we had a completely adequate breakfast for 8 quid. Great position too. Love what’s been done with the quayside – its a lovely wander alongside the Tyne, with lots of places for refreshment.
Click on photos for larger image.
All views of Newcastle and its Quayside are dominated by the seven great bridges and it is of course as a fortified bridging point that Newcastle owes its origins. Today’s famous ‘Tyne Bridge’ is a great steel bridge of 1928 but it is the lower level Swing Bridge of 1876 that marks the site of the earlier Tyne Bridges of historic times. Here a medieval bridge of uncertain date superseded an earlier Roman bridge. The bridge was in existence by 1179 but was rebuilt in 1248 following a fire. Constructed of stone, it had 12 arches. Its entire course was cluttered with a picturesque collection of houses and shops of wood and stone, as well as defensive towers and a chapel. In 1724 Daniel Defoe compared the street of houses on the bridge to that which existed on London Bridge at the time.
In November, 1771 a flood wrecked the Old Tyne Bridge destroying the buildings that lined its course. A temporary bridge was constructed in October 1772, replaced by a new stone bridge in 1781. It was the only bridge across the Tyne in Newcastle until the High Level Bridge opened in 1849.
The seven famous bridges across the Tyne, which link the city to Gateshead on the south bank of the river are from west to east; the Redheugh bridge, King Edward VII Bridge, Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, The High Level Bridge, the Swing Bridge, the George V Bridge (or Tyne Bridge) and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
The George V Bridge, a road bridge more familiarly known as the Tyne Bridge is the most famous Newcastle landmark. Opened in 1929 by King George V and built by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, it closely resembles the very much larger Sydney Harbour Bridge which was also built by the Middlesbrough firm at around the same time.
The lowest of the Tyne bridges in terms of height is the Swing Bridge of 1876, a road bridge that leads directly into the old heart of the Newcastle Quayside below the castle keep. Designed by the famous Tyneside engineer William Armstrong (1810-1900) it opened without ceremony in June 1876. The Swing Bridge replaced the Georgian stone bridge which had very little clearance for ships passing beneath. The swing mechanism of the new bridge enabled larger vessels to reach the upper parts of the Tyne – where of course the famous Armstrong works at Elswick were located.
The Swing Bridge (like its Georgian predecessor) is located on the site of the Roman and medieval bridge. During the construction of the Swing Bridge, two Roman altars were dredged from the river that were dedicated to the gods Neptune and Oceanus. They would have belonged to a shrine built to protect the Roman bridge of Pons Aelius from the tidal Tyne.
The King Edward VII Bridge is a rail bridge, built in 1906 by Cleveland Bridge of Darlington and opened, appropriately enough, by Edward VII. The Redheugh and Queen Elizabeth II bridges are more modern structures. The present Redheugh Bridge, a road bridge, is a concrete structure and was opened by Diana, the Princess of Wales in May 1983. It is the third bridge of that name, superseding earlier bridges of 1871 and 1901.
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge is a steel structure used by the Tyne and Wear Metro system and was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in November 1981.
Oldest of Newcastle’s present Tyne bridges, is the High Level Bridge which was erected in 1848 to the designs of Robert Stephenson, it comprises two tiers for road and rail. One of the best views of Newcastle can be obtained from on board a train as it crosses this bridge on the main London to Edinburgh line. The High Level is so-named because it was the first Newcastle bridge to span the Tyne from the top of one bank to another. All earlier bridges had spanned the river at low level.
The most recent of the bridges is of course the beautiful Gateshead Millennium Bridge which is for the use of cyclists and pedestrians only. Opened in September 2001, the whole bridge can be tilted by 40 degrees to allow ships and boats to pass underneath.
The large weird shaped glass covered building on the far side of the river is The Sage.
The Castle, Newcastle, or Newcastle Castle is a medieval fortification in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, built on the site of the fortress that gave the City of Newcastle its name. The most prominent remaining structures on the site are the Castle Keep , the castle’s main fortified stone tower, and the Black Gate, its fortified gatehouse.
Use of the site for defensive purposes dates from Roman times, when it housed a fort and settlement called Pons Aelius (meaning ‘bridge of Hadrian‘), guarding a bridge over the River Tyne. Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror, in 1080 built a wooden motte and bailey style castle on the site of the Roman fort. Curthose built this ‘New Castle upon Tyne’ after he returned south from a campaign against Malcolm III of Scotland. Henry II built the stone Castle Keep between 1172 and 1177 on the site of Curthose’s castle. Henry III added the Black Gate between 1247 and 1250. Nothing remains of the Roman fort or the original motte and bailey castle. The Keep is a Grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The Castle Keep and Black Gate pre-date the construction of the Newcastle town wall, construction of which started around 1265, and did not include it. The site of the keep is in the centre of Newcastle and lies to the east of Newcastle station. The 75-foot (23 m) gap between the keep and the gatehouse is almost entirely filled by the railway viaduct that carries the East Coast Main Line from Newcastle to Scotland. (from wikipedia)
Fabulous views of the city from the top of the castle.
The first three photos are of Newcastle Cathedral – some really old grave stones inside (16th century) and a nice cafe.
The rest are a selection of shots that might give you a flavour of the city. I really took to it.