Newcastle, Westgate Road, grammar school

HER Number:
12531

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, Westgate Road, grammar school

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW NZ26SE

Class:
Education

Site Type: Broad:
Secondary School

Site Type: Specific:
Grammar School

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C16

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
In 1559 the school moved from St Nicholas's Churchyard to West-spittle (into the former hospital of St Mary the Virgin HER 1502). Queen Elizabeth ordered that there should be a Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth in Newcastle, with one master. The hospital survived the Dissolution, and was refounded in 1611. It was also used in the medieval period for meetings of the guild, for the election of the mayor and officers, and to house the grammar school. The remaining portions were demolished in 1844 to make way for Neville Street etc. Thomas Oliver (1844) reported that the Royal Grammar School was re-founded in 1599 by Queen Elizabeth and moved from its original quarters next to St. Nicholas Church to this building, the former hospital of St. Mary the Virgin. In 1844 the building was demolished and the school moved to a building at the Forth Walk. There was a porch at the west end of the former hospital building with 7 steps to the entrance door. On the left a door opened into the first room which was 33 feet 1 inches x 25 feet and 5 inches. This opened into a second room 21 feet 9 inches x 25 feet 5 inches. The third room was 45 feet x 16 feet 8 inches. Above the entrance and part of the first room there was an upper floor with a room 24 feet 6 inches x 17 feet 10 inches, entered by a staircase of 20 steps.

Easting:
24741

Northing:
63936

Grid Reference:
NZ2474163936

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
B. Mains and A. Tuck (eds), 1986, The Royal Grammar School; H. Bourne, 1736, The History of Newcastle upon Tyne, pp 33-35; J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 67-85 E. Mackenzie, 1827, Newcastle, 137-145 T.M. Richardson, 1880, Memorials of Old Newcastle upon Tyne, XIX W.H. Knowles, 1892, The Hospital of St. Mary the Virgin, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XV, 194-207 J. Raine, 1876, S. Mary the Virgin's Hospital, Newcastle, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, VII, 203 G.R.B. Spain, 1934, The Roman Wall in Westgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XI, 232 and fig. 1; Thomas Oliver, 1844, Historical and Descriptive Reference to the Public Buildings on the Plan of the Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead