Newcastle Town Walls

About Newcastle Town Walls

Newcastle's Town Walls were begun in the late 13th century and eventually ran roughly two miles around the whole medieval town, with a ditch, six main gates and a series of towers. Chronicles judged them among the strongest urban defences in England, and though most were demolished as the city outgrew them, substantial stretches survive and are protected as a scheduled monument. The finest sections stand on the western side of the old town, behind Blackfriars off Stowell Street and along Bath Lane, where you can walk beside the wall and several of its surviving towers, including the Heber, Morden and Durham towers.

The walls make the natural spine of a heritage walk through Grainger Town, the tightly packed grid of Georgian and early Victorian streets that Richard Grainger and John Dobson built in the 1830s. A loop of a mile or so links the wall to the Grade I listed Grainger Market of 1835, the sweep of Grey Street past the Theatre Royal, often called one of the finest streets in England, and down towards the Quayside and the castle. It is a compact, flat circuit through the historic core, easy to pick up and leave at any point, and it ends conveniently near Central Station and the Town Wall pub on Pink Lane, itself named for the defences that once ran alongside.

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