Franciscan Friary

Franciscan Friary

HER Number
1429
District
Newcastle
Site Name
Franciscan Friary
Place
Newcastle
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Religious House
Site Type: Specific
Franciscan Friary
General Period
MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Medieval 1066 to 1540
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
The earliest reference is in 1225/6 during the reign of Henry III, when the king granted the friary a conduit from their well; in 1237 he gave them timber for the construction of their dormitory. The precinct lay on the east (west?) side of the north end of Pilgrim Street, and was bounded to the north by High Friar Street and Lane, to the west by the Nuns, and to the south by houses on the north side of High Bridge. A single reference suggests the church lay along the south side of High Friar Lane, and hence that there was a south cloister, but nothing else is known of the buildings. The friary was dissolved in 1539, at which time it accommodated a prior, 8 priests and 2 novices. The Franciscans were the first religious order to arrive in Newcastle. Dated C13th.
Easting
424920
Northing
564390
Grid Reference
NZ424920564390
Sources
<< HER 1429 >> Cal Pat R, 1237-42, 16
Cal Pat R, 1340-43, 351
Cal Unq Misc. II, 1307-49, no. 1900
Letters & Papers Foreign & Domestic Henry VIII, XIV, pt. 1, nos. 40, 394
J.C. Hodgson, 1917, 'The Domus Dei of Newcastle, otherwise St. Katherine's hospital... Archaeologia Aeliana, 3, XIV, 210-12
H. Bourne, 1736, History of Newcastle, 82-5
J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 331-7
D. Knowles & R.N. Hadcock, 1953, Medieval Religious Houses England and Wales, 192; Barbara Harbottle, 2009, The Medieval Archaeology of Newcastle in Diana Newton and AJ Pollard (eds), 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead before 1700, page 32, 34