When did Newcastle Castle stop being a Castle?

This week, Daniel is looking for the answer to this rather strange question. He will be looking at how and why Newcastle Castle fell out of use after being such a formidable fortress in the Middle Ages, and how it fell into near ruin and was almost swept away by the tides of progress!

The medieval period saw the peak of the castle’s use as a fortress. Then the merchants of the city requested the construction of a wall around the town to deter the Scots. This was completed by 1350. Following this, the castle was no longer the town’s primary defence and it’s maintenance was neglected.

Down in the Dumps

By the 1500s, the castle became a real dump. Literally. The dry moat ditch that surrounded the Black Gate had become a midden- a place for people to leave their refuse and waste. This included human waste, since there were no flushing toilets yet and all that stuff had to go somewhere. Supposedly, the pile it caused became so high, it caused part of the curtain wall to collapse.

The castle itself, especially the Keep or Great Tower, was still used in an official capacity. The lowest room was used as a prison and the conditions were truly deplorable. For one thing, there was no longer a roof, meaning the prisoners were completely exposed to the elements. They would be chained to the wall, forced to stay low to the stone floor which would undoubtedly become damp in wet weather. Trials were also held in what had been the Great Hall of the Castle, which by the 1600s was usually called the Moot Hall.

In the early 1600s, the wars between Scotland and England came to an end. King James I of England (VI of Scotland) came to the throne and a new development happened with the Castle. In 1618, James I leased the building to Alexander Stephenson, one of his courtiers. He allowed people to build homes and shops around the site, charging them rent for the privilege. These homes and businesses would continue to build up as time went on, as did the waste in the midden.

It was around this time that the North Gate came into possession of Patrick Black. He was a tailor for the royal court and the building’s lease was granted to him when its previous owner failed to pay back certain debts. It was around this time that the North Gate became known as the Black Gate. Bit of an anti-climax for the reason for the name, isn’t it?

Last Stand

The 1600s weren’t a pleasant time for the people of Newcastle. We have Coronavirus today, but Newcastle was also hit with an outbreak of the granddaddy of major outbreaks in 1636: the Black Death, which killed over 5,000 of a population of 12,000. Then came the English Civil War in 1642, caused by, among other things, a breakdown in the relations between Parliament and the Monarchy. Newcastle, under the mayor John Marley, took the side of the Royalists.

In preparation for a possible attack, he had the castle refortified. The walls were reinforced, and the roof was mounted with cannons. In 1644, it turned out that Marley’s preparations proved sensible when the town was attacked by the Scottish Army of the Covenant, loyal to the forces of Parliament. Despite the defender’s best efforts, the Scots managed to breach the town walls and Marley’s forces had to retreat to the castle. They held out for about a week before they surrendered.

This marked the last time that the castle was used as a defensive fortification. What’s more, we even have a marker of this assault. In the King’s Chamber within the Great Tower, you can find the names of two men carved into the stone: Thomas Cuthbert and John Danby. This is the only record that we have that these two men existed. As far as history is concerned, they were nobodies. Never did any noteworthy deeds or anything of historical circumstance. Nothing except their names on the walls of the castle, still there after nearly 400 years.

‘A Barbarous Relic of Antiquity’

Following the end of the Civil War, the castle once again lost its use as a fortress. It still saw some use by the locals though. On top of the Keep’s walls, a garden was added for growing vegetables. The Royal Chapel became a beer cellar for the various pubs that were built in the surrounding area.

On that note, the aforementioned homes and businesses continued to grow. Aside from pubs and taverns, many the city’s cobblers made their residence inside the curtain walls of the castle. Before long, it housed a series of tightly packed slum houses known as the Castle Garth. The area was something of a nebulous zone, being technically counted as part of the County of Northumberland rather than the Town and County of Newcastle. The result was that the town merchants couldn’t impose as many restrictions on the people living there. It became a draw for all kinds of people, from those who didn’t want to live under the law of the rest of the town, to immigrants from places like Ireland and Scotland, including those following various ‘dissenting’ religious traditions (i.e. anyone who wasn’t Church of England!)

By the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. George Stephenson, known as the Father of Railways, would begin construction of the first railway lines. In a strange twist of fate, these plans would meet with the castle. Those at the time considered it a ‘barbarous relic of antiquity’ and wanted to demolish the whole thing to make way for the railway bridge in 1847. However, a group of history enthusiasts known as the Society of Antiquaries had purchased the lease for the castle, forcing them to build around the castle rather than through it. The railway itself still goes by the castle to this day. Sadly, the curtain wall was mostly demolished, along with the homes and businesses that made up the Castle Garth. Something of an example of Victorian values: something always has to be demolished to make way for progress.

The Town Corporation had already begun reconstruction efforts for the castle between 1810 and 1812, building the current flat roof and its distinctive turrets at the same time as demolishing the old “Moot Hall” to make way for a brand new court house which still stands today. In the 1840s, parts of the original stonework were restored, with the help of John Dobson: a renowned local architect responsible for the construction of other noteworthy buildings in Newcastle, like the Central Station and Theatre Royal. By the 1880s, the Society of Antiquaries had also purchased the lease on the Black Gate, which they used to house their considerable archaeological collection and which was in many ways the first dedicated archaeological museum in the city. This collection remained there until a purpose built museum was made at the University in the 1960s. The Antiquaries still resided in the Black Gate, using it to house first a significant collection of bagpipes (!) and then their library.

They continued to use it, right up until 2009. Since then, they have moved their offices to the Great North Museum and still exists to this day (members get free entry to the castle!). In 2012, the castle received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which saw the construction of a new museum and offices at the Black Gate.

Now, it stands today, ready to be explored by new generations to witness where the story of our city began!