Newcastle town wall, White Friars Postern

HER Number:
1515

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle town wall, White Friars Postern

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Defence

Site Type: Broad:
Town Defences

Site Type: Specific:
Town Wall

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C14

Form of Evidence:
Demolished Building

Description:
Sited at the north end of a long stretch of curtain running south to Close Gate, at the west end of the street called the Postern. Presumably dated from after 1311 when the wall was redirected south from the re-entrant. Thought to have been the point of exit through the wall when the townspeople chased away the Scots in 1342. Not one of the great gates of the town, but greater than a simple postern. Above the gate, on the town side, were carved shields of arms of the town, Clavering and Shafto, and an inscription recording the repair of the wall in 1745. The gate was still present in 1847 when final demolition may have been taking place.

Easting:
2482

Northing:
6386

Grid Reference:
NZ24826386

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1515 >> H. Bourne, 1736, History of Newcastle, 12 J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 8-9 n. M.A. Richardson, 1843, Local Historian's Table Book, Historical Division, III, 51 S. Holmes, 1896, The Town Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XVIII, 12 C.H.H. Blair, 1937, The Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, illustrated by...G.B. Richardson, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XIV, 125-6, pl. xiii