Newcastle, medieval galley

HER Number:
13532

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, medieval galley

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Maritime

Site Type: Broad:
Marine Construction Site

Site Type: Specific:
Shipyard

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C13

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
In 1294 Edward I commissioned galleys from various English ports and the accounts for that built at Newcastle survive. The keel was 135 feet long and the ship was to be propelled by 60 oars and a sail. The timber cost £50 8s 4d. The nails cost £22 16s 7.5d. Pitch, tar and caulking material cost £11 2s. The carpenter's wages cost £66 4s 1.75d. Work lasted 41 weeks. Some 21 men were employed, including a master shipwright, his assistant, carpenters, hammer-men, 'holders-up', painters, a squad for launching the ship, berthing, rigging, smiths, sawyers and a watchmen. Archaeological excavations on the site of the law courts suggest that the building yard lay beside the Pandon Burn. This is the only surviving account for medieval shipbuilding on the River Tyne.

Easting:
254

Northing:
639

Grid Reference:
NZ254639

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Constance M. Fraser, 2009, The Economic Growth of Newcastle upon Tyne 1150-1536 in Diana Newton and AJ Pollard (eds), 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead before 1700, page 63; RJ Whitwell and C Johnson, 1926, The Newcastle Galley AD 1294, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th Series, vol. 2, pp 142-93; RJ Carlton and J Catling, 2006, The Great Storm of 1901 Information and Education Pack produced by Maritime Archaeology Project 2006