Newcastle town wall, Corner Tower

HER Number:
1557

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle town wall, Corner Tower

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Defence

Site Type: Broad:
Town Defences

Site Type: Specific:
Town Wall

General Period:
MEDIEVAL

Specific Period:
Medieval 1066 to 1540

Form of Evidence:
Ruined Building

Description:
Not a tower of the usual type, but two turrets standing to roof height set at right-angles to one another on the eastern re-entrant of the curtain. It must be supposed that this re-entrant resulted from Newcastle's acquisition of Pandon by Edward I's charter of 20 December 1299. Excavation showed that the wall had never run straight on here, as earlier writers had suggested, and that the raggy masonry on the south side of Corner Tower was only the remnant of a buttress. In other words the angle represented a change of design before the wall reached this point. SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT AND LISTED GRADE 1

Easting:
425300

Northing:
564150

Grid Reference:
NZ425300564150

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1557 >> J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 17 S. Holmes, 1896, The Town Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XVIII, 19, 22 E. Tullett, 1979, An Excavation at the Corner Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1978, 5, VII, 179-189 M.A. Richardson, 1846, Local Historian's Table Book, Historical Division, Archaeologia Aeliana, V, 292