Sandgate, The Swirle

HER Number

10474

District

Newcastle

Site Name

Sandgate, The Swirle

Place

Newcastle

Map Sheet

NZ26SE

Class

Transport

Site Type: Broad

Road Transport Site

Site Type: Specific

Alley

General Period

MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Medieval 1066 to 1540

Form of Evidence

Structure

Description

Small lane between Sandgate and the Quayside. Shown on Hutton's map of 1770 as 'Swerle'. The street name was derived from the stream, the word 'swirle' meaning the meandering of a stream of water. The 66th boundary stone of the borough of Newcastle stood at the north-west corner of the Swirle. Bourne records that the street was sometimes known as the Squirrel. There was a fine block of old buildings in the Swirle with Queen Anne gables, tall chimney stacks and dormer windows. One of them was the Half Moon Tavern.

Easting

425760

Northing

564120

Grid Reference

NZ425760564120

Sources

W. Gray, 1649, Chorographia; H. Bourne, 1736, The History of Newcastle upon Tyne, p 154; B. Harbottle and P. Clack, 1976, Newcastle upon Tyne - Archaeology and Development in D.W. Harding (ed), 1976, Archaeology in the North; W. Collard and M. Ross, 1842, Architectural and Picturesque Views in Newcastle upon Tyne; J. and J. Leslie, 2002, Bygone Quayside and the Chares; Charles Hutton, 1770, A Plan of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead; W.H. Knowles and J.R. Boyle, 1890, Vestiges of old Newcastle and Gateshead, pp 86-90