King Charles I House, 23 Shieldfield Green

This was situated in Shield Street, overlooking the 'Shield Field' (HER 5471), where Charles I was allowed to play 'goff' while imprisoned in Newcastle during the Civil War, resting at the house. Photographs show it to have been a three-storey 3-bay brick-built house with Dutch-gabled dormer windows and a steeply pitched gabled pantile roof with earlier slates evident in places. Robert Gilchrist, poet, died in this house in 1844. It was owned by Alderman Sir Richard Walter Plummer in 1917, who presented it to the Council to ensure its prservation. It was finally demolished in 1960 and the area was redeveloped with high rise flats {1}. A bronze tablet mounted on purbeck over the front entrance read "THIS HOUSE, IN WHICH ROBERT GILCHRIST THE NEWCASTLE POET DIED IN 1844 AND IN WHICH KING CHARLES I RESTED WHEN HE PLAYED GOLF IN THE SHIELDFIELD, WAS DEVISED TO THE LORD MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND CITIZENS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE BY THE LATE ALDERMAN SIR WALTER RICHARD PLUMMER D.C.C 1917". The front entrance doorcase and door which were present in 1959 were C19 {12}.