Newcastle town wall, Denton or Neville Tower

Newcastle town wall, Denton or Neville Tower

HER Number
1516
District
Newcastle
Site Name
Newcastle town wall, Denton or Neville Tower
Place
Newcastle
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
Class
Defence
Site Type: Broad
Town Defences
Site Type: Specific
Town Wall
General Period
MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Medieval 1066 to 1540
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
Sited c. 10 yards west of the western re-entrant, this tower was of the normal semi-circular plan, with rib-vaulted chamber, 19 feet x 10 feet. The re-entrant presumably dates from c. 1311, the date of the decision to re-direct the wall, so this tower could have been built either side of 1300. In 1711 the Company of Wallers, Bricklayers and Plasterers removed the tower's ruined parapet, and built over the vault "a capacious apartment of brick". The Company then left the White Friars Tower and moved in here, adding a platform and steps in 1732. They apparently continued to meet here until the tower was demolished in 1849.
Easting
424820
Northing
563860
Grid Reference
NZ424820563860
Sources
<< HER 1516 >> H. Bourne, 1736, History of Newcastle, 12
J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 8
Illustration M.A. Richardson, 1846, Local Historian's Table Book, Historical Division, V, 405
G.B. Richardson, 19th century, The Walls of Newcastle 98-9, 103, 105 -Newcastle University Library Unpublished MS
S. Holmes, 1896, The Town Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XVIII, 9, 12
C.H.H. Blair, 1937, The Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, illustrated by...G.B. Richardson, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XIV, 125 and pl. xiii
Illustration, Newcastle Library Local Studies, Red, 5 volume, expanded series, book no. 376052A, E. Mackenzie, 1827, View of Newcastle, Vol. 2, between pp. 108 and 117