Newcastle Estate Agents

PONS AELIUS, CONDERCUM & SEGEDUNUM

Benwell, in the western subburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne was the site of a fort on Hadrian's Wall called CONDERCUM but the later name of Benwell is of Anglo Saxon origin deriving from Beonnam-Wall meaning a placewithin the wall Today most of what remains of the fort at Benwell is largely burried beneath modern housing, but the defensive Roman ditch called the `Vallum' can still be clearly be seen along with the nearby ruins of a Roman temple dedicated to a local god called Antenociticus.

From Benwell the Roman wall continued east, towards the fort near the river at Newcastle called Pons Aelius (See Roman history) . Between Benwell and Newcastle City Centre Hadrian's Wall more or less ran along the course of what is now the Westgate Road. This road is built along the site of a Roman defensive ditch situated just north of Hadrian's Wall.

In Roman times the fort of Pons Aelius at Newcastle was probably not as important as that at Benwell, although it had a significant role in guarding a Roman bridge accross the Tyne. Pons was the Latin word for Bridge, so Pons Aelius was the name of both the the fort and the bridge at Newcastle. In fact Pons Aelius can be translated to mean `the Bridge of Hadrian' , as Aelius, was the family name of the Emperor who gave his name to the Roman Wall.

The Roman bridge at Newcastle was built of timber on stone piers and may have continued in use for many centuries. Records suggest that the bridge may still have stood in Norman times and if this is so then it was not finally destroyed until 1248 during a raging fire. It is highly liklely that a medieval bridge which replaced this burned structure still utilised the Roman foundations.

Initially the Roman bridge and fort at Newcastle formed the eastern terminus of Hadrian's Wall but later the wall was extended three miles further to the east where a fort called Segedunum was built at what we now know as Wallsend.

The fort of Segedunum was strategically located at the point where a short northward flowing section of the River Tyne suddenly turns east towards the sea. East of here the Tyne provided a natural continuation of Roman defences. This is demonstrated by the fact that one of the defensive walls of Wallsend fort actually extended into the River Tyne itself.

NEWCASTLE'S CASTLE

In Anglo-Saxon times the vicinity of the old Roman fort at Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester after a small community of monks who settled in the area. The later name Newcastle did not come into existence until Norman times when Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror built a castle here on return from a raid into Scotland. Naturally Robert called the building his `New Castle, and the name has stuck ever since. Robert's castle was built right on the site of the Roman fort of Pons Aelius.

A medieval walled town grew up around this new castle which became an important stronghold in the northern defences against the Scots. Its military importance stimulated trade and commerce and the expanding town of Newcastle developed into a major sea port. By 1300 Newcastle's importance was such that it was permitted to appoint its own mayor and a century later the town became a county in its own right, independent of Northumberland which lay outside its walls.

Rope making, shipbuilding and glass making were among the early trades to develop in Newcastle but without a doubt the most important of all the industries of the town was the mining and export of coal. The Tyneside pits were among the first to be worked in England and for centuries Newcastle was the most important exporter of coals to London. Thus we have the familiar modern phrase `To carry coals to Newcastle', an expression of something which is quite needless.

NEWCASTLE'S QUAYSIDE THE HISTORIC CORE OF TYNESIDE

The oldest part of Newcastle is the Quayside, which was until the nineteenth century, the commercial hub of all Tyneside. Most historical of the buildings in this area of the town are the keep of the Norman castle and the adjacent fourteenth century church of St Nicholas with its famous lantern tower. Until the onset of Victorian developments these two buildings were the two most prominent buildings in the townscape of Newcastle upon Tyne.

In 1882 when the diocesse of Newcastle was created from the northern portion of the diocesse of Durham, St Nicholas church became a cathedral-church and Newcastle subsequently gained the title of a city. However for most of its history Newcastle has been a town and despite its Victorian rise in status, Newcastle is still commonly known to its residents as `The Toon'.

Staying on the Quayside not far from the cathedral is a road called the Sandhill where some of the oldest remaining houses of the Newcastle Quayside can still be seen. They date from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries and were once occupied by wealthy Newcastle merchants.

In one of these houses there once lived a certain Bessie Surtees who in 1772 defied the wishes of her wealthy merchant father and secretly climbed from an upstairs window to elope with a humble young man called John Scott. Scott went on to become a wealthy peer, acquiring the baronry of Eldon near Bishop Auckland and later in 1801 he became the Lord Chancellor of England.

Lord Eldon of course gives his name to Eldon Square, the modern commercial centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. Bessie Surtees' house in Sandhill is marked by a plaque which commemorates the famous elopement.

Courtesy of www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk