Bull Ring

The Bull Ring was an early street, the course of which has probably not been substantially altered since medieval times. It was named after the place where bulls were baited in the eighteenth century. Craster (1907, 306) noted that "a large flat stone, containing an iron bolt and ring, was turned up here in June 1820", presumably where the bull was tethered. This was also the coaching centre for transport to Newcastle. The flat land above the Bull Ring was owned by George Milburne, a trader in coal, lime and salt. This land was sold off as building lots to the wealthy members of the community in 1690. The course of this early thoroughfare is still discernible [in 2005] as a cobbled track.