Community

Newcastle Castle

Name: Newcastle Castle
Address: The Black Gate, Castle Garth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1RQ, Newcastle City, GB
Telephone: 0191 230 6300

The medieval castle keep and Black Gate gatehouse that gave Newcastle its name, open as a single visitor attraction with rooftop views over the Tyne.

The Black Gate, Castle Garth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1RQ 0191 230 6300 Visit website

About Newcastle Castle

Newcastle Castle is the fortress the city is named after, on a bluff above the Tyne that the Romans had already fortified as Pons Aelius in the mid second century. In 1080 Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, raised a timber motte-and-bailey here, the original New Castle. Henry II replaced it in stone between 1172 and 1177, the work carried out by the master mason Maurice at a recorded cost of £1,144. That great rectangular keep, roughly 62 by 56 feet and 81 feet tall, still stands and is both a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument. Henry III added the Black Gate, a twin-towered barbican with drawbridges and portcullis, between 1247 and 1250.

The castle later served as a prison, was besieged during the Civil War in 1643 and 1644, and by the nineteenth century had been hemmed in and partly cut through by the railway viaduct that still passes beside it. After restoration work the two surviving buildings were brought together and reopened in 2015 as a single attraction called Newcastle Castle. Visitors can climb through the chapel, garrison rooms and great hall of the keep to the roof, which gives one of the best panoramas in the city over the Tyne bridges, the Quayside and the cathedral. Interpretation, guided tours and evening events cover the Roman, Norman and later chapters of the site.

Featured in These Guides

Blog posts and guides that feature Newcastle Castle.

A Grainger Town Heritage Walk: Newcastle's Georgian Heart

Newcastle's classical core was laid out in the 1830s and 1840s by Richard Grainger, John Dobson and John Clayton. This walking route links Grey Street, the Grainger Market and the Theatre Royal with the medieval castle that gave the city its name.

Family Days Out in Newcastle City Centre

Newcastle city centre packs five proper family attractions into a walkable square mile, from a museum of children's books to a medieval keep, with parks and a riverside walk to pair them with.