Newcastle town wall, Ever Tower

Newcastle town wall, Ever Tower

HER Number
1539
District
Newcastle
Site Name
Newcastle town wall, Ever Tower
Place
Newcastle
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
Class
Defence
Site Type: Broad
Town Defences
Site Type: Specific
Town Wall
General Period
MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Medieval 1066 to 1540
Form of Evidence
Ruined Building
Description
Its awkward siting at an angle where the wall changed direction to East-South-East has been used as evidence that it predated the curtain and walls to the South-West. Semi-circular in plan, with a rectangular room and 3 arrow loops, and stairs in both directions to the wall walk. The back wall stands to top of the vault, the rest only to below the tops of the loops. The outside of the tower is deeply buried. This was the meeting house of the Company of Paviors, Colliers and Carriagemen, who repaired it several times in the 18th and early 19th centuries, then leased it in 1845 to a tanner who demolished the vault and built all over it. The tower was rediscovered and the interior cleaned out in 1930s. SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT AND LISTED GRADE 1
Easting
424430
Northing
564360
Grid Reference
NZ424430564360
Sources
<< HER 1539 >> J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, I, p. 12, pl. opp. 2
G.B. Richardson, 19th century, The Walls of Newcastle, 147 -Newcastle University Library Unpublished MS
S. Holmes, 1896, The Town Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XVIII, 15
P. Brewis, 1934, The West Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, Between Durham and Ever Towers, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XI, fig. 17
C.H.H. Blair, 1937, The Walls of Newcastle...illustrated...by Georeg Bouchier Richardson, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XIV, p. 127 and pl. xvi.2
H.L. Honeyman, 1939, A New Plan of the Ever Tower, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 4, IX (for 1939-42), pp. 37-38