28 and 30 The Close

This building was listed Grade I in 1954 with the following description:
'Large late C16 merchant's house, altered. Dressed stone ground floor, upper facade of C18 or early C19 English bond brick with a second floor band. Pantiled roof. Late Cl7 timber-framed rear extension rests on an older stone base and re-uses some original windows. Brick nogging and a corrugated iron roof. Front of No. 28 four storeys, five bays; No. 30 three storeys, three bays. Plain door and sash windows, some with glazing bars. Inside the unity may be seen. The first and second floors of the front range each consist of one enormous room whose chief feature is a ceiling of close-set beams completely plastered, with quasi-classical side mouldings and bands of renaissance ornament below and between. Paired birds, flowers, scrolls and arabesque patterns involving animals appear. The thistle is a frequent motif. The ornament may be compared to C16 Scottish painted work. A contemporary stone fireplace with flattened Tudor arch and sharp shallow roll mouldings is on first floor. Stone mullioned windows of two, three and five lights have a double hollow chamfer. In the rear extension is a handsome oak staircase with urn and spiral turned balusters, thick moulded handrail, and moulded closed string. The ground floor is high and plain, suggesting that it may always have had a mercantile use. Much of the second floor ceiling had fallen down and the building was in poor condition at time of survey.'
This building contains the earliest surviving plasterwork in Newcastle. Grace McCombie describes it as 'remarkable allegorical schemes of c. 1611'. The design is based on engravings published in the Low Countries. English Heritage conducted tree ring analysis in 2009 and found that the samples of oak taken from the buildings related to no less than three phases of felling from relatively local woodland sources. The timbers date from the mid 15th to 17th centuries. Some timbers predate the building of the merchants houses and may be reused from earlier structures.
Excavations inside Nos. 28-30 The Close revealed 3rd century Roman deposits containing late Samian ware, black-burnished 2 dishes and cooking pots, Lower Nene Valley beakers, an Oxfordshire mortarium, S Spanish amphora for olive oil and grey oxidised wares. The Roman material may have eroded from the Castle Garth via the gully on the site of Long Stairs. Most of the Roman material was residual - recovered from the 13th century dumped material, but it may have originally come from the Roman waterfront.
The 13th century waterlogged deposits were rich in ceramics and faunal remains. These deposits were a series of dumps associated with large timber uprights - waterfront reclamation. Leather show soles, wood and botanical material was preserved. Tumbled masonry could represent levelling of structures as part of the reclamation infilling. The lower courses of the spring of a vault arch were recorded in a fireplace in the front room. This may be part of a solar (private apartment) with a cellar which is attested in 14th century documents. Other medieval fabric included a wall footing and several stone drains.
Late 17th or early 18th century structures included a brick platform and post uprights - a stair-base of an early house. There was also a sub-circular fire installation - a kiln, oven or pot-boiler base.
A 19th century brick well and paved stone surface were the latest features recorded.