Town Moor

About Town Moor

The Town Moor is one of the great oddities of Newcastle: roughly a thousand acres of open common land, some 400 hectares, beginning barely a mile north of Grey Street. It is larger than London's Hyde Park and Hampstead Heath put together and bigger than New York's Central Park, and unlike a formal park it is grazing land rather than gardens, kept deliberately open. Grazing rights on the Moor reach back around a thousand years, and a charter granted to the town by Edward III in 1357 confirmed the common land; today the Freemen of Newcastle still hold the right to pasture cattle here, with the herd capped at 800 head, so it is entirely normal to meet cattle a short walk from the shops.

For walkers the appeal is the freedom of it. There are no fixed routes to follow, and you can strike out across open pasture in the middle of a city in a way almost nowhere else in Britain allows. The wider Moor takes in Nun's Moor, Duke's Moor and Castle Leazes, and its southern edge runs up against Leazes Park, so the two make an easy combined walk from the centre. Once a year the grass disappears under the Hoppings, one of Europe's largest travelling fairs, held here each June. The Moor is open, free and unenclosed, though it is exactly that, open grazing land, so keep dogs under control near the cattle and expect uneven ground rather than made paths.

Featured in These Guides

Blog posts and guides that feature Town Moor.

Moving to Newcastle City Centre: A Guide to Living in the City

What it is really like to live in Newcastle city centre and the quarters around it, from Grainger Town and the Quayside to the Ouseburn and Shieldfield. A practical look at transport, housing, amenities and the trade-offs of centre living.

Best Playgrounds in and around Newcastle City Centre

The city centre is better off for play than you might think, from a woodland playground behind St James' Park to a restored Victorian park with a skate ramp and a wooden climbing tower. Here are the best play areas within reach of the middle of Newcastle.

Best Walks in and around Newcastle City Centre

From the Quayside and the Ouseburn to the Town Moor and the medieval walls, the best walks are all within reach of the middle of Newcastle without a car.