Newcastle town wall, Plummer Tower

HER Number:
1553

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle town wall, Plummer Tower

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Defence

Site Type: Broad:
Town Defences

Site Type: Specific:
Town Wall

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C13

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
A semi-circular, much restored tower, which earlier writers have suggested was originally of two storeys (like Carliol Tower). In his recent description, however, Nolan points out that medieval masonry survives only to the height of the adjoining curtain wall, and may never have been 2 storeys. No other original features survive, i.e. no loops, stairs or parapet. Once called the Carliol Croft Tower, it served as an artillery position at the time of the Civil War. When, in the 17th century, it was the Cutlers' meeting hall it was named Cutlers' Tower, and it was possibly this company which inserted the large, later blocked, windows. In 1749 it was let to the Company of Masons with permission to build a meeting house there - this leading to a new Palladian west front etc. They continued to hold it into the 20th century, after which it was intermittently used as a dwelling house and subjected to a number of restorations. SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT AND LISTED GRADE 1

Easting:
2520

Northing:
6442

Grid Reference:
NZ25206442

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1553 >> J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, 16 & pl. T.M. Richardson, 1880, Memorials of Old Newcastle-upom-Tyne, pl. ix S. Holmes, 1896, The Town Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XVIII, 9-10, 18 J. Nolan, 1993, The Town Wall, Newcastle. Excavations at...Croft Street, 1987-89, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5, XXI, 130-141; URS, 2013, Plummer House, Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeological Assessment