Newcastle, Church of St. Nicholas church (cathedral)

HER Number:
1491

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, Church of St. Nicholas church (cathedral)

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Church

Site Type: Specific:
Parish Church

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C12

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
The earliest surviving remains suggest a church of the second half of the 12th century, with a 2 bay choir, and a nave with clustered columns in the north aisle,. In 1193-4 the grant of the church of St. Nicholas to Carlisle Priory was confirmed. Later medieval alterations and enlargements were carried out several times between the late 13th and 15th centuries. The 15th century Thornton Brass is held in the cathedral - this large, high quality brass from the grave of Roger Thornton, an important figure in medieval Newcastle, once covered Thornton's grave at All Saints Church. During the seige of Newcastle in 1644 the general of the beseiging army threatened to destroy the steeple unless the keys of the town were given up. In response, Sir John Marley, the Mayor of Newcastle, had the chief Scottish prisoners confined on the top of the church tower, saving the building from destruction, and during the rest of the seige not a single shot was fired against it. Elevated to Cathedral status in 1882. LISTED GRADE 1

Easting:
2499

Northing:
6400

Grid Reference:
NZ24996400

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1491 >> J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 237-40 M.A. Richardson, 1820 …Armorial Bearings, Inscriptions…in…St. Nicholas, Newcastle… Black Gate, Vols I and II W.H.D. Longstaffe, 1880, St. Nicholas's Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Transactions Architectectural and Archaeological Society Durham and Northumberland, II (for 1869-79), 134-9 R. Welford, 1880 …Monuments and Tombstones in the Church of St. Nicholas, Newcastle. T.M. Richardson, 1880, Memorials of Old Newcastle, Plates II, XVII, XXIII TW.H. Knowles & J.R. Boyle, 1890, Vestiges of Old Newcastle and Gateshead, 91-124 C.H.H. Blair, 1924, Northumbrian Monuments, Newcastle upon Tyne Records Committee, IV, 30-84 H.L. Honeyman, 1932, The Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, IX, 96-193 H.L. Hicks & C.H.H. Blair, 1939, Renaissance Monuments in the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XVI, 1-30 N. Pevsner, rev. various, 1992, Northumberland, Buildings of England, 417-24 English Heritage, 2004, Tree-Ring Analysis of timbers from the roof of St Margaret's Chapel; Thomas Yellowley, 2006, Stained glass in Tyneside's Finest, pp 193-4; Brenda Whitelock, 1992, Timepieces of Newcastle, pp 4-9; Thomas Oliver, 1844, Historical and Descriptive Reference to the Public Buildings on the Plan of the Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, pp 1-4; Rob Kirkup, 2009, Ghostly Tyne and Wear; Grace McCombie, 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead - Pevsner Architectural Guide, p. 14, 29, 46-57; Barbara Harbottle, 2009, The Medieval Archaeology of Newcastle in Diana Newton and AJ Pollard (eds), 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead before 1700, page 26; Hugh Richmond, 2007, Newcastle Cathedral Draft Conservation Plan; Liz Humble, 2007, The Heart of the City Conservation Management Plan; Dave Heslop, 2011, Desk based assessment for proposed works to the nave, nave aisles and south transcept of the cathedral of St. Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne; J Kennedy, Purcell UK, 2013, Nave Floor Heating, Seating and Reordering, St. Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne - Proposal for the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England; David Heslop, 2015, Recording of Thomlinson Library Roof; David Heslop, 2017 Evaluation of North Transcept Crypt; David Heslop, 2016, Watching brief Cathedral Choir