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

Lats/Lons:

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Division, V, 405 G.B. Richardson, 19th century, The Walls of Newcastle 98-9, 103, 105 -Newcastle University Library Unpublished MS S. Holmes, 1896, The Town Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XVIII, 9, 12 C.H.H. Blair, 1937, The Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne,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