Newcastle town wall, Austin Tower

HER Number:
1555

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle town wall, Austin Tower

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Defence

Site Type: Broad:
Town Defences

Site Type: Specific:
Town Wall

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C13

Form of Evidence:
Demolished Building

Description:
Austin Tower was situated on the wall close to the north-east corner of the precinct of the Austin Friars. It was described as "the finest double chambered bastion extant...Both chambers were finely arched, and the newel stairs from lower to upper, and from the upper to the platform of the tower, were both in a state of perfect preservation". It was the meeting hall of the companies of millers and coopers, and then the ropers, who repaired it in 1698. Its upper room was in ruins, and the lower one in use as a stable when it was finally demolished in 1838 for the erection of the Newcastle and North Shields Railway Station. It is now under (and probably destroyed by) the Manors multi-storey car park.

Easting:
2527

Northing:
6425

Grid Reference:
NZ25276425

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1555 >> J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 16-17 & pl. M.A. Richardson, 1846, Local Historian's Table Book, Historical Division, V, 121 G.B. Richardson, 19th century, The Walls of Newcastle, 193 -Newcastle University Library Unpublished MS Illustration, T.M. Richardson, 1880, Memorials of Old Newcastle-upon-Tyne, pl. xi S. Holmes, 1896, The Town Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XVIII, 18-19 C.H.H. Blair, 1937, The Walls of Newcastle...illustrated...by George Bouchier Richardson, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XIV, 128 & pl. xix.2