Gateshead History
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The Borough of Gateshead has a rich and varied heritage.
The town can trace its origins back to Roman times; Roman coins were discovered in Church Street in 1790 and recent archaeological excavations in the Bottle Bank area have revealed evidence of a Roman road and buildings.
The area around the present Swing Bridge was a logical crossing point of the Tyne gorge and it is believed that the bridge stands on the site of the first bridge built by the Romans – the Pons Aelius. During construction of the Swing Bridge in 1875 an altar dedicated to Neptune was dredged from the river.
Gateshead great fire – Illustrated London News, 14th October 1854
14th Century Gateshead
To illustrate life in the Fourteenth Century in Gateshead, here are a number of official records which are still in existence. 1300) Parts of Gateshead, Whickham and Lamesley used as select residences by Newcastle merchantmen, seizing ownership for non-payment of debts. 1310) Gateshead timber felled for two warships being built on the Tyne for Edward […]
17th Century Gateshead
The population of Gateshead more than doubled during the hundred years between 1576-1676, however, there was a severe set-back during the 1640s caused by the Civil War, which seriously interfered with the coal trade, and with the actual mining of coal. The first Scottish invasion of 1640 resulted in an attack on Sir Thomas Liddell’s […]
18th Century Gateshead
1700) George Bell, a officer appointed to keep order in the church, was paid one and sixpence per, week “to take care to turn vagrants and Scots out of the parish.” 1716) Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, leased the Manor of Gateshead to William Cotesworth at a rental of £235 11s 4d. per annum. He […]
19th Century Gateshead
On the east of High Street were houses with courts, alleys and streets behind continued almost as far as Jackson’s Chare (Jackson Street), but on the west there were gardens and an orchard on the site of what is now the shopping precinct and multistory car park. Barnes Close was fields and Bailey Chare, later […]
History of Gateshead
Gateshead was the head of the Celtic trackway, a natural route amid dense forests inhabited by the Brigante tribes who fought against the inroads of Emperor Hadrian. Beacon Lough, between Wrekenton and Windy Nook, was a Celtic signaling station for milit ary purposes, and was one of a line str etching the length of England. […]
History of Gateshead Bridges
The first bridge linking Gateshead and Newcastle was built by the Romans in about AD 120 on the site of the present Swing Bridge. It was destroyed. by fire in 1248 after eleven centuries of use. A new stone bridge was completed in 1250, the cost being shared between the city of Newcastle and the […]
Introduction to Gateshead History
The Borough of Gateshead has a rich and varied heritage. The town can trace its origins back to Roman times; Roman coins were discovered in Church Street in 1790 and recent archaeological excavations in the Bottle Bank area have revealed evidence of a Roman road and buildings. The area around the present Swing Bridge was […]
Origins of Street and Place names in Gateshead
ASKEW ROAD – From the Askew family, who owned the Redheugh Estate from 1748 to the 1880’s. BEACON LOUGH – An area between Sheriff Hill and Wrekenton, east of the old turnpike road. The ‘beacon’ was one of the series of warning beacons established by Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The beacon was blown down in 1808. […]
The Great fire of Gateshead 1854
The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead was a tragic and spectacular series of events starting on Friday 6 October 1854, in which a substantial amount of property in the two North East of England towns was destroyed in a series of fires and an explosion which killed 53 and injured hundreds. Newcastle and Gateshead, […]