Top 5 Things To See In Newcastle

1. The Tyne Bridge

The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge that is over the River Tyne in North East England, it links Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead together.  When the Tyne Bridge was in it’s construction it was the world’s longest single span bridge, which was officially opened on 10 October 1928 by King George V.

As the Tyne Bridge was built in 1928 it was a major engineering triumph in it’s day and remains a miracle of modern design 75 years on. Built from steel and granite, the Tyne Bridge has come to symbolise all that is best about the Tyneside industrial tradition and it’s history of engineering and innovation. In the late 19^th Century the city fathers started to talk about building a new Tyne Bridge to ease traffic congestion and to provide a splendid new river crossing, but it wasn’t until 1924 that the plans to build today’s bridge started to take shape and then work began n August 1925 and it took just three years to complete the giant structure.

The Tyne Bridge’s towers were built of Cornish granite and were originally designed as warehouses with five storeys, but the inner floors of the warehouses in the bridge’s towers were never completed and as a result the storage areas were never used. The Tyne Bridge Towers are regularly opened to the public of Heritage Open Days, which take place in September each year. The Tyne Bridge is probably the most recognised for Great North Run as 52,000 runners pass over the bridge accompanied by a display from the Red Arrows.

2. The Grainger Market

The Grainger Market first opened it’s doors in October 1835 with a banquet being held to celebrate this New Market’s opening. The artist, Henry Perlee Parker (1795-1873) had painted an oil painting to commentating the event. You can also see a copy of this painting in the Weigh House, Alley 2 in the Grainger Market. But if you would like to see the original painting then that is being held in the Laing Art Gallery, you can also see the painting on the BBC’s website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-banquet-given-on-the-occasion-of-the-opening-of-the-gr37027

Originally the Grainger Market was divided into a butchers’ (or flesh) market, which is now Alleys 1 to 4, and a vegetable market, which is now the Grainger Arcade. The Grainger Arcade did originally have a wooden framed roof which had sadly burnt down at the turn of last century, but it was then replaces in 1904 with a new roof which was made of steel and glass, which it still stands today.

At this present time there are 14 entranceways to the Market but there did used to be 12 entranceways. Two were turned into shops and four new ones were created so there’s no shop number 47, 71, 116 or 140! In 2010, The Grainger Market celebrated it’s 175^th birthday with a week of Victorian-themed activities.

3. The Newcastle Cathedral

The church is very large by Australian standards, it is 72.5 metres long, 26.5 metres wide, 36.5 metres high and contains 160 windows, 72 of which are filled with stained glass. In relation to the City, the tower stands 77.5 metres above sea level and 38.5 metres above the ground. From this elevation, the Church dominates the City which it serve and is clearly seen by day and when floodlit by night from much of the City.

Because Newcastle was the second settlement outside Sydney on the Australian mainland and the church building was officially founded, the building is notable for the length and uniqueness of its history. Christ Church had its beginning in 1804 when among Lieutenant Menzies’ instructions from Governor King was one saying, You are to cause the prayers of the Church of England to be read with all due solemnity every Sunday.”

The first church was erected in 1817 “by Order of Government Macquarie”. There was no resident clergyman and the church was one of the Government buildings. In August 1818 at a service conducted by The Rev’d William Cowper of St Phillip’s Church, Sydney, Governor Macquarie himself named the little convict built church Christ Church.

4. The Castle Keep

The Castle is a medieval fortification in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, which gave the City of Newcastle its name. The most prominent remaining structures on the site are the Castle Keep, the castle’s main fortified stone tower, and the Black Gate its fortified gatehouse.

In 1080, a wooden motte and bailey style castle was built on the site of the Roman fort, which was the ‘New Castle upon Tyne’. It was built by Robert Curthose, eldest son William the Conqueror, but having returned south from a campaign against Malcolm III of Scotland. The stone Castle Keep was built between 1172 and 1177 by Henry II on the site of Curthose’s castle. The Black Gate was added between 1247 and 1250 by Henry III.

The site is in the centre of Newcastle and lies to the east of Newcastle Central Station. The 75 feet (23m) gap between the Keep and the Gatehouse is almost entirely filled by a railway viaduct, carrying the East Coast Main Line from Newcastle to Scotland. The Castle Keep and Black Gate pre-dated the construction of the Newcastle town wall, construction of which started sometime around 1265, and it did not form part of it, nothing remains of the Roman fort or the original motte and bailey castle. The Keep is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The Keep is owned by the City Council, which leases it to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, who manage it as a visitor attraction. The society is based in the Black Gate and use it to house a library and as a meeting place.

5. The Monument

Grey’s Monument is a Grade I listed monument to Charles Grey, 2^nd Earl Grey built in 1838 in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was elevated to acclaim Earl Grey for the passing of the Great Reform Act of 1832 and it stands at the head of Grey Street. It consists of a statue of Lord Grey standing atop a 130 feet (40m) high column. The column was designed by local architects John and Benjamin Green, and the statue was created by the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily (creator of Nelson’s statue in Trafalgar Square).

In 1941, during World War II, the head of the statue was knocked off by a bolt of lightning. In 1947, sculptor Roger Hedley (the son of painter Ralph Hedley) created a new head based on the preserved fragments of the original.

The Monument lends it name to Monument Metro station, which a station on the Tyne and Wear Metro is located directly underneath, and to the Monument Mall Shopping Centre. The surrounding area is simply known as Monument.

A spiral staircase leads to a viewing platform at the top of the monument which is occasionally opened to the public. Old photographs indicate that the monument was originally on a traffic island and was surrounded by railings. But these railings are no longer present, and the area around the monument is now pedestrianised and is home to many shops, some independent and some up-scale designer boutiques.