Category: Newcastle - Heddon-on-the-Wall Local History Society

Seven Mile House Farm - R-B enclosure

16/2/2026

Location: NZ 2292 7501

Probable Romano-British enclosed settlement.

There are few survivals of such earthworks in this area of North Tyneside although there are many crop- and soil-marks of similar enclosures recorded from aerial photographs. These have been mapped recently by Historic England on their Aerial Archaeology Mapping Explorer.

"First reported by Tim Gates on 20th January 1983, and later in more detail on 26th October 1984. An enclosure defined by a trapezoidal ditch - certainly the remains of a settlement of R/B type. The surrounding area is covered by later agricultural earthworks and the interior has similarly been ploughed. The ditch is quite pronounced though, being up to a metre deep at the rear (west) of the enclosure, but shallower on the east side where the entrance may have been. Possible moated site."

Tyne & Wear SiteLines: 1323

The South East Northumberland Air Photo and Lidar Mapping Project
Alison Deegan
Published 15 December 2022

Newcastle Race Course - lidar

15/2/2026

LIDAR (DSM, 1m) copyright Environment Agency (2022) - enhanced for archaeology.

There are extensive remains of [Medieaval, broad] ridge and furrow in what later became Gosforth Park. It survives in the fields and woods north of the old tramway, patchily between the tramway and the racecourse, and very well under the golf course within the race track. Much is clearly visible, but there are places where it is apparent only on aerial photos. Most of it runs roughly north-south; there are some distinct blocks (furlongs); curved and straight ridges; a range of widths from 5.5 to 11.5 metres; and a patch of double-crested ridges. There are also probable traces of enclosure banks which were later removed for the park.

A rare survival of the former common fields of Gosforth Common.

Tyne & Wear Sitelines: 165

Gosforth Park, Brandling House (Gosforth Hall or House)
Tyne & Wear Sitelines: 7701

Town Moor, Newcastle-upon- Tyne

10/2/2026

LIDAR (DSM, 1m) © Environment Agency - enhanced for archaeology.

Town Moor, Newcastle upon Tyne

An area of open pastureland just to the north of the City Centre, surrounded by built-up land, established as common land in the 13th century. It contains Prehistoric enclosures, agricultural field systems, industrial workings, military and leisure use sites.

The features visible can be split into the categories:
Agriculture- medieval broad ridge and furrow and later narrow rig field systems, old allotment gardens and modern features associated with the continued use of the moor for cattle grazing, such as water troughs and pens.
Access and road ways- medieval trackways, turnpikes, Victorian and later trackways and the development of new roads including the huge spoilheaps from the construction of the Central motorway.

Mining- medieval and later shaft mines, areas of mining related subsidence, clay pits, 19th century collieries and 20th century wartime opencast.

Leisure- golf course, 18th century horse race course, sites of exhibitions and fairgrounds, parks and gardens.

Military- barracks, and sites relating to World War Two such as a prisoner-of-war camp, an isolation hospital, trenches, pill boxes and stoplines.

Possible prehistoric - possible earthwork settlement and a cropmark Romano-British enclosure.

Historic England: 1029439

Town Moor, Newcastle upon Tyne

10/2/2026

Some WW2 remains from a LIDAR survey of the Town Moor in Newcastle upon Tyne. The first image is DTM LIDAR shows ditches around huts of an Italian POW camp along with zig-zag trenches in the same field. Are these second war defences associated with the WW2 POW camp, or earlier 'practice' trenches from WW1? The second image is the same area in a satellite image from Google Earth showing a fairground encamped on the same field. Other images show a larger area in DSM LIDAR (with a few more faint trenches in an area N of the road) and another ditches remaining from two rows of nissen huts associated with the nearby barracks.

Old postcards - Newcastle c1900

9/1/2024

Old postcards - Parks in Newcastle & Gateshead (c1900)

8/1/2024

Newcastle public transport maps 1940s

5/9/2021

I was privileged to be invited to see these two massive old maps last week. Based on sections of large scale Ordnance Survey maps, they have routes of Newcastle's buses, trams, trolley-buses and train routes painted on by hand. They had been designed to be hung up on a large wall somewhere and had been stored in a long and heavy wooden box. They had been rescued from disposal by David Vardy and brought to my attention by both Bill and Lil of Heddon who use a local Facebook page.

See below for more details and some recent research.

The origin of the box with its two maps was from a demolished property somewhere along the River Tyne, perhaps a storage warehouse of the town council.

An auction label on the wooden box showed that the maps had been in an auction by ADG Auctions of Blyth on 10th July 2021 as lot 736.

The lot was described only as 2 x 1920 local maps huge size approx. 18ft x 10ft, reused in war period 1944. Contained in large oak container.

There was no reserve price and the lot appeared to remain unsold and probably disposed of due to its condition.

The background maps can be identified as below:

Smaller scale: Ordnance Survey 1921 1:10,560 (6" to 1 mile) .
Larger scale: Ordnance Survey 1919 1:2,500 (25" to 1 mile)

The plan based on the 6" OS Map shows the existing tram line on the Scotswood Road though Lemington and Newburn terminating at the cross roads in Throckley. The population of Newburn Urban District is given as 18,830. An existing bus route along the West Road terminates at Denton Burn but is marked as authorised but not operated further west as far as Heddon on the Wall. The population of Heddon is recorded on the plan as 676.

To the north, a bus route serves Ponteland and Darras Hall (population 1,146). The train line to Ponteland Station via Gosforth is also shown on the plan but had been closed to passenger traffic on 17 June 1929 due to competition with the buses. Ponteland remained open for goods traffic until 14 August 1967.

The larger scale map is titled:
Newcastle upon Tyne in Parliament Session 1944-45.

Both plans are stored in a long wooden box which appears to have come from Westminster (probably made by a company at 15 Great George Street in W1 although that is only a guess from the incompletely read labels), and addressed to The Town Clerk of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had been sent by Resident Superintendent, House of Lords in July 1946.

Both maps are massive and would require conservation if anyone wants them, as the paper maps are peeling off their backing.

A quick check of parliamentary records suggests they could have been something to do with proposed Newcastle trolley-bus routes.

Entry in Journal [15th May, 1945] read: —Bill "to confirm, a Provisional Order made by the Minister of War Transport under the Newcastle-upon-Tyne (General Powers) Act, 1935, relating to Newcastle-upon-Tyne Trolley Vehicles," read the First and Second time, and (the Bill having been reported and considered in the last Parliament) ordered to be read the Third time To-morrow.

Trolleybuses to Replace Newcastle's Trams
The Commercial Motor 7th December 1945, Page 29

So soon as opportunity occurs, the Corporation of Newcastle-upon-Tyne has decided that its trams shall be displaced by trolleybuses. At present, the rolling-stock operated by the transport department, of which the general manager is Mr. H. C. Godsmark, A.M.I.A.E., M.Inst.T., comprises 511 vehicles, of which no fewer than 223 are trams, so that the change-over, when it can be arranged, will be no mean feat. Apart from the trams, there are 136 trolleybuses and 122 motorbuses. The remaining 30 vehicles are miscellaneous, in kind and in the purposes for which they are used.

The combined services, as they exist at present, are excellent, considering the conditions brought about by the war. Mr. Godsmark, like everyone else in a similar position, suffers from a shortage of labour and materials and is anxious to give improved travel facilities to the people of Newcastle notwithstanding these difficulties which affect, alike, the trams, trolleybuses and motorbuses.

The corporation services spread fanwise from the north bank of the River Tyne, with the bridge over the river as a focal point. They reach Throckley, six miles to the west; Tynemouth, eight miles to the east; Gosforth Park and Ponteland, five and nine miles respectively to the north.

Beamish Transport Online have a nice Newcastle Corporation Transport map (trolley-buses, trams and buses) from 1949 (published for use by public) although with no background OS. It is nice to imagine that the 1944-45 maps shown here were a forerunner for this later public service map.

Some of the tram routes on the 1944-45 maps (Throckley/Lemington) have been replaced by buses. However, trams still cross the Tyne & High Level Bridges on their way from Newcastle town centre to Gateshead.

A comment on this map on the website Transit Maps points out:
Interestingly, the main map seems to be presented at a slightly oblique angle almost as if the view was from an aeroplane high above the city. Distances along the north-south axis are somewhat compressed, and everything leans to the left a little. The bridges over the River Tyne are drawn in a way that reinforces this perspective, so the effect is quite convincing.

Perhaps someone had based it on the perspective of one of the massive maps laid out on the floor and observed from the bottom.

Co-Curate provides the following potted history of Newcastle's Trolleybus network.

October 2, 1935
Newcastle Trolleybus System opens
The Newcastle upon Tyne trolleybus system opened on the 2nd of October 1935. These were electric buses, drawing power from overhead cables through spring-loaded trolley poles. Unlike the trams they replaced, trolleybuses didn't require tracks. The trolleybus system gradually replaced the Newcastle tramway network, eventually growing to a fleet of 204 trolleybuses covering 28 routes..

An undated view of a Newcastle Corporation Transport trolleybus parked outside the depot Newcastle upon Tyne. The trolleybus is used on the no.?6 route to Fenham via Barrack Road.

Newcastle Libraries Collection Accession Number: 054254.

1946
Newcastle Trolleybus Network - Expansion
Newcastle Corporation ran a programme of modernisation and expansion of it's trolleybus network between 1946 and 1949. During that period 186 new trolleybuses were ordered, replacing the original fleet of around 100, and expanding the network to cover 37 route miles.

October 2, 1966
Newcastle Trolleybus System closes
The Newcastle Trolleybus System closed in October 1966, after 31 years of operation. The electric trolleybuses were replaced by petrol buses. Some of the trolleybuses were scrapped, others were redeployed to trolleybus networks in other parts of the country.

British Trolleybuses - Newcastle upon Tyne. Photo by Alan Murray-Rust (1966).

Photo from Geograph © Copyright Alan Murray-Rust (cc-by-sa/2.0) Link

Byker Bridge in 1966 looking east. The distinctive supports for the overhead wires have disappeared, and we seem to need crash barriers these days.

The trolleybus is no.621, one of the batch of BUT 9641T vehicles built in 1950 to the same design as the last trolleybuses built for London. By this stage only the main route 35 corridor was still operated by trolleybuses, the final closure coming the following year. .

David Vardy managed to find a new home for the maps - the museum of the Blyth Battery.

Gun Emplacements, Blyth Battery, South Beach, Blyth. Photo by Geoff Holland (2020)

Anthony Fox

30th September 2021

Hi Just noticed your item about the two Newcastle Corporation Transport maps.

In April 1931, the Corporation applied to the new Traffic Commissioners for Road Service Licences for the stage carriage services it wished to continue operating. This was a process gone through by all bus service operators as a result of The Road Traffic Act of 1930.

The 6" map matches exactly the bus routes that the Corporation listed in its application so can be dated as early 1931. In corroboration, the map shows the no. 12 Haymarket to Two Ball Lonnen route that started in July 1930, so the map must be later than that date, and the 11a Haymarket to North Shields via the New Coast Road, that no longer appeared in the December 1931 timetable, so the map must be earlier than that date.

The other map is much easier to date, not least because of the label! The proposed trolleybus routes in the Osborne Road/South Gosforth area are of note in that what actually happened was quite different.

Hope this is of interest.

Tony Fox, Market Drayton

World Class Glass

15/6/2016

On Monday 13th June 2016 Christopher Wardale talked at our monthly meeting about one of his lifetime passions, stained glass. His first degree from Newcastle was in Fine Art and he has been designing and researching the ancient and modern art of stained glass ever since. He trained as an Anglican priest, now retired, and has considerable knowledge of of some fine examples of stained glass in the north-east.

His talk revolved around a Metro tour of Newcastle but was interspersed with historical information and personal anecdotes.

William Wailes (1808–1881) established a stained-glass firm in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1838 which became one of the largest in the country. Wailes made a name for himself through the provision of windows for local churches and at the height of the business had 76 employees turning out a new window every day.

Christopher Wardale described how Wailes' produced windows often show particular colour combinations making them easily recognised.

St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne, east window (detail) by William Wailes. Photo by William Starkey (2014).

Newcastle Swing Bridge

20/3/2014

Neptune and Swing Bridge, Newcastle. Photo A Curtis (2014).

Newcastle's Swing Bridge, thought to have been the fourth bridge that crossed the River Tyne at low level on the site, was designed by Lord Armstrong and the Tyne Improvement Commission. It was built at Armstrong's Elswick works between 1868-76 at a cost of £222,000. At the time of its opening it was the largest such bridge in the world. It was a necessary development to allow for upriver navigation by sea-going vessels but required the removal of the current nine-arched stone bridge built in 1781.

The bridge mechanism is still driven by the original Armstrong hydraulic engines, although the steam pumps were replaced by small electric pumps in 1959. The pumps force water into the chambers of hydraulic accumulators, sunk down into the bed of the river. When the motors cut out, 60-ton weights above the chambers force water out under pressure which run the machinery to turn the bridge. The bridge now opens only very rarely and is controlled from the cupola above the superstructure.

Tyne Improvement Commission coat of arms, Swing Bridge Newcastle abutment. Photo A Curtis (2013).

Victorian Panorama by Alan Morgan 12 November 2012

17/11/2012

Victorian Panorama: a visit to Newcastle upon Tyne in the Reign of Queen Victoria by Alan Morgan, Tyne Bridge Publishing, 2007).

At short notice, due to a cancellation in our program of talks, the Newcastle City Guide, Alan Morgan, gave us an excellent talk on his book, the cover of which is shown above.

The basis of his book was the watercolour painting, Newcastle upon Tyne in the Reign of Queen Victoria, by John Storey (1862) and a lithograph of it Alan had seen in the Newcastle City Library. It shows a highly detailed view of the streets and buildings of the city at that time, taken from a vantage point high above Gateshead's former railway station, Brandling Junction.

There has been much interest since publication of the book.

How did John Storey achieve this lofty viewpoint? Did he have access to a balloon?

How did he manage to represent certain buildings and landmarks that were not yet built at the time of painting? These include the Tyne Brewery (1868), St Mary's Cathedral spire (1872) and the Tyne Tees Shipping Office (1875). How did the painter manage to predict the future? These buildings had been long planned, and John Storey presumably had access to the plans.

St Mary's Cathedral, Clayton Street West. Photo by A Curtis (2010).

Tyne-Tees Steam Shipping Company, King Street. Photo by A Curtis (2010).

The book divides the painting into 13 areas covering a great swathe of Newcastle from the Tyne west of the High Level Bridge, to The Swirle on the Quayside (then a stream flowing into the Tyne), to the east. Detail is visible as far north as The Great North Road, Town Moor and Jesmond. Gateshead is also represented directly below the viewpoint. For each of these areas we are treated to detailed illustrations from the painting with added street names, and highlighted buildings which are numbered and discussed in detail in the text.

There are a large number of other illustrations and photographs from the period, and many old maps, which provide context and scale as the painting was done with some element of distortion and artistic license.

The Biscuit Factory, Stoddart Street, Shieldfield. Photo by A Curtis (2010).

I have had an interest for some years in the history of Newcastle's buildings and I found this book a wonder. Many of the old buildings can still be found although now have other uses as my example above of the Biscuit Factory shows.

Small section from the book showing the Biscuit Factory in 1862 (no. 30).

Many of the buildings surrounding the Biscuit Factory have now gone, including the windmill shown at its front. Built in the late 1860s, the factory itself was run by Thomas Squire & Sons to make biscuits until just before the First World War and had several uses there after.

It is now Europe's largest commercial art gallery (opened in 2004). There is a history of the building here.

Newcastle Quayside panorama. Photo by A Curtis (2010).

Just for fun, two modern panoramas of Newcastle. Above taken from the Sage, Gateshead not far from Storey's viewpoint but much lower.

On the right, the sculptural map from Neville Street, across the road from Central Station. Click the photos for more detailed description of what you can see.

Grainger Town Sculptural Map, Neville Street. Photo by A Curtis (2010).

Links

Article by Tony Henderson in the Newcastle Journal (2007)