Newcastle, The Leazes, Civil War battery

HER Number:
6432

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, The Leazes, Civil War battery

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Defence

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Battery

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C17

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Two plans of Newcastle were prepared by Jacob Astley in 1638/9, prompted by the need to refortify the town as war with Scotland threatened. The northern and western parts of the town suffered damge during the Civil War seige of 1644, during which St. Andrew's Church (HER 1486) and the town wall was bombarded by a Scottish artillery battery under Lt. General Baillie sited somewhere near the Leazes. The town wall between Newgate and Andrew Tower was breached and the church itself was still under repair in 1708. A cannonball supposedly found embedded in the wall of the Morden Tower was formerly displayed there. Grey states that the suburbs out of Newgate and Pilgrim Street were "ruinated in these late Warres".

Easting:
23974

Northing:
64976

Grid Reference:
NZ2397464976

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
C.S Terry, 1899, The Seige of Newcastle upon Tyne by the Scots in 1644, Archaeologia Aeliana, Series 2, Vol 21, p 213; Mackenzie, 1827, History of Newcastle, p 110; Northern Counties Archaeological Services, 1999, Hanro, Gallowgate Development - Archaeological Assessment