Behind the Door Of… Newcastle Castle
We take you behind the mighty walls of Newcastle's most historical building
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of Newcastle Castle in the city’s history – there’s been a fortress of some sort on the site for two millennia and the castle is surely much of the reason the city even exists. But how much do you know about it?
We’ve taken a closer look, and talked to the castle’s Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith, to find out a bit more about the castle’s history, buildings and the role it plays in the city’s cultural life.
First, some history, in case you weren’t paying attention at school: the history of the castle’s site stretches back to the 2nd century AD, when the Romans built a fortress there – Pons Aelius (or ‘bridge of Hadrian’) - intended to protect a bridge that spanned the Tyne.
Returning from battling Malcolm III of Scotland in 1080, William The Conqueror’s son Robert Curthose built a wooden ‘motte and bailey’ castle on the site, proclaiming it a ‘New Castle upon the Tyne’. A stone Castle Keep followed in the late 12th century courtesy of Henry II and the Black Gate was added by Henry III between 1247-50. While nothing remains of the Roman fort or Curthose’s fortress, the keep and the gatehouse remain right in the heart of the city.
One person who knows this history inside out is Ben Smith, the CEO of Heart Of The City Partnership that manages the castle, a man who clearly enjoys working somewhere steeped in so much history and significance.
“To work somewhere like this, you have to be aware of the history and be very passionate about it! I’m very aware of the kids enjoying it. You hear the kids’ screams of joy when they visit!”
(Ben was insistent that these screams were from joy, rather than bloodcurdling screams caused by ghastly torture!)
Ben has worked at the castle for eight years, having previously worked at the historic environment office at the city council, and is based on the top floor of the Black Gate itself. He clearly still finds it an exciting place of work and is adamant that everyone should come and visit.
“It’s the place that gave Newcastle its name, it was a military fortress and staging post for wars waged up into Scotland, and vice versa. William Wallace and the rest have been down and knocked on the gates there. It’s a major contributor to the development of the North East region. Underneath the castle you’ve got the Roman fort Pons Aelius, which you can’t really see anything of now but that was part of Hadrian’s Wall. It’s always been a sort of control point for the region, from Roman times onwards. And the view from the roof is essential as well…”
Education is a key part of the castle’s role in the city, and there are school children visiting almost every day during term time to take advantage of the castle’s various educational endeavours.
“We have an education programme that supplements the national curriculum, covering a series of different topics for different key stages. And they take a full school day with a workshop and a guided tour, bringing it all to life in the context of whatever subject they’re working on. We also offer self-guided study and give the school some resources to enable them to do that. And we have an outreach programme, where we go out to different schools and other establishments and provide outreach workshops, again on different topics – maybe the medieval period or harking back to the Viking period and we’ve done World War I and II as well.”
While there are plenty of history or heritage enthusiasts passing through the gate, there are also people who don’t tend to visit places like Newcastle Castle, and this is one of the factors in the castle’s many events. There are film nights – imagine watching Robin Of Sherwood in an actual castle keep – and medieval feasts, talks and tours. It’s all about engagement, as Ben explains.
“It’s about being part of the lifeblood of the city, for example the film nights that we do don’t really make us any money whatsoever, it’s about providing people an alternative means of access into the castle. Some people want to come into the castle, walk round and enjoy it but others are less inclined to do that but are more inclined to come to watch a film in a different setting. So it’s about engaging with other audiences, and providing part of the cultural life of the city as well.”
This focus on engagement is key to the castle’s plans for the next year and beyond.
“Next year we’ll focus very much on the walking tours we do around Newcastle, and the late access guided tours around the castle in the evening. There’ll be theatre shows and music events. There will still be some film night but not as many. And there’ll be quite a lot more interaction in the day with costumed characters.”
The history of the castle is full of historically significant figures and nation-building conflicts, all of which are explained clearly and carefully when you visit the castle. Famously, there is the long period of wars against the Scots (Ben points out, in light of his accent, that “the Scots have taken the castle again!”). And it played a role in the English Civil War in 1643-44, when the city was under siege for three months by the Parliamentarians and their Scottish comrades (the castle’s garrison surrendered and the castle was seriously damaged).
From that period until the 18th century, the castle was primarily used as a prison, until it was restored in the nineteenth century. The coming of the railway to the north of the site meant that only the keep and Black Gate were preserved.
We asked Ben his favourite story about the castle and he clearly enjoys telling this grisly tale about William Wallace.
“It’s said that ‘a body part’ of William Wallace – because various body parts were sent off to different places after he was hung drawn and quartered – was hung from either the Castle Keep or the Castle Garth. We’re not sure what body part it was but one source suggests it was a very private area.“
And when asked about his favourite part of the place he’s lucky enough to work in every day, he had to choose two - both indicators of quite how immersed in the history of the castle he is.
“The first, oddly enough, is the well room. It has two basins either side of the well and those basins basically have plumbing, which – I know it sounds a bit weird - is pretty unique, to have water going down into the old gaol. It’s quirky for a castle! The other one is the High Status Cell, a cell just off the Great Hall , for high status prisoners. The lower status ones obviously wouldn’t have been kept in such grandeur. So when you walk into that cell you find out about Mary Bruce, sister of Robert The Bruce, who was captured and held hostage for about three years. These high status hostages often had to write their own ransom notes, it was quite a common things in those days. You certainly couldn’t do away with them because they were worth quite a bit of money.”
Newcastle Castle is a remarkable testament to the city’s heritage and significance, and a really brilliant place to visit whether you’re interested in its fascinating and vital history, or just want to soak up the atmosphere emanating from its ancient walls. There’s the remarkable views, of course, of maybe you want to see a movie in a truly unique location. It doesn’t matter quite why you decide to visit Newcastle Castle, as long as you do!
Newcastle Castle is open from 10am to 5pm every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.
