The castle at Newcastle is situated on a steep sided promontory overlooking the River Tyne.
It is a naturally defensible site, which archaeological excavations show has been occupied for nearly 2000 years. Flint flakes and a stone axe head hint at prehistoric activity, and the grooves left by early ploughs – ard marks – have been found in the clay subsoil.
From the mid-2nd century until the beginning of the 5th century a Roman fort – Pons Aelius – stood here, guarding the river crossing below. The name refers to the Roman bridge (pons) across the River Tyne, and to its builder, the Emperor Hadrian, whose family name was Aelius. The site of the bridge was probably close to the present Swing Bridge.
The castle keep as we see it today is the product of a number of restorations over the years:
Despite these changes the keep remains one of the best examples of its type in the country. The names used for the rooms in the keep in the medieval period are unknown: those used today were given by antiquarians in the 19th century. The keep has been open as a ‘curiosity’ or visitor attraction since 1812*
*Information from Newcastle Castle guidebook (Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne).
This is a superb image foThe castle at Newcastle Cherie and a wonderful history lesson ….peter:)
Thank you
Newcastle has a lot of history.
Spooky!
Just in time for Halloween? ;p
You could have a good Halloween Party in their at night
Fantasmagoric….
I am glad you like it
I learn something every day – thank you, Cherie
I am glad you find it interesting
My goodness you have a sense of light.
It is rather spectacular at night
Same for stonework, colours and light as I’ve written above. : )
It looks quite spectacular lit up at night.
Nice shot. It may be difficult to believe but apart from the industrial sunsets shots of the River Tyne next to where I grew up, my second favourite location as a 14/15 year old trainee photographer with a cheap manual non SLR & tripod was the streets of Newcastle at night. I had to get permission from my parents of course that involved a trip by bus. Due to timing & light, it was never in summer time.
I don’t remember taking a photo of the Keep though as it hadn’t been cleaned at that point and consequently wasn’t an object of beauty to display like this.
Thanks for the nostalgia moment … maybe this shot has inspired me with an idea to go back to see what I can do with the sights I saw all those years ago.
I am glad I have inspired you
The photo I took was rather blurry (hand held at night). So I weaved a bit of Photoshop Magic on it to get what I thought was an acceptable result.