English, British
Class
Health and Welfare
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2293
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6457
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Fenham
Description
Shown on Ordnance Survey first edition map.
Site Type: Broad
Hospital
SITEDESC
Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map.
Site Name
Westgate Road, Lunatic Asylum
Site Type: Specific
Psychiatric Hospital
HER Number
6343
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Sources
1st edition Ordnance Survey map; CgMs Consulting, 2010, The campus for ageing and vitality and Tesco food store, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne - Archaeological Statement
SURVIVAL
None
YEAR1
2004
English, British
Class
Health and Welfare
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
COMP2
Rachel Grahame
Crossref
9951
DAY1
23
DAY2
01
District
Newcastle
Easting
22920
Grid ref figure
10
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MATERIAL
Sandstone
MONTH1
11
MONTH2
02
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
64510
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Fenham
Description
Newcastle upon Tyne Poor Law Union formally came into existence on 26 September 1836. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Governors, 34 in number, representing its 11 constituent parishes and townships. The average annual poor-rate expenditure for 1834-1856 had been £15,049 or 5s 6d per head of population. In 1839 the Board of Governors started buying land to accommodate a new workhouse for the City, which would replace the four parish Poor Law Houses (HER 6870, 11340, 16405, 16406) in Newcastle. Part of this is shown on Christie's map of 1870. By 1844 the first building, the administration block, had been built. The workhouse buildings were built in the south-east corner of the site at the junction of Westgate Road and Brighton Grove. They included a dining hall, laundry, bakehouse, workshops, school, sick wards, lying-in ward and imbecile's ward. Men were housed in the western side of the workhouse, women in the east. In 1868 work started on a new hospital on the west side of the site. A foundation stone was laid on 9th December by Mr Milvain, vice-chairman of the Board of Guardians. The building cost £16,302. It was opened on 7th December 1870 by the Board's chairman, Thomas Ridley. The hospital was two storeys high and was arranged in a U-shape enclosing a quadrangle of lawn. There were eight wards and three semi-basement wards on the north and east sides where the slope of the land made the foundations lower. The building was separated into men on the west and women on the east. A separate children's block was erected between the workhouse and the 1868 hospital. Boys had a school, dayroom, playground and dormitories in the northern half of the building, girls were in the south. There was a swimming bath north of the school. In 1882 the small entrance lodge was replaced by a three storey building with central archway. The lodge contained waiting rooms and receiving wards on the ground floor, a three roomed residence above and store rooms on the top floor. In 1902 a separate itch and venereal ward was erected west of the workhouse. In 1902 the children were moved to the Union's new cottage homes at Ponteland. The building was then used for the workhouse's aged and infirm inmates. The dining room was converted into a chapel. The first vagrants' ward was at the west of the site, north-west of the hospital. It later became an isolation ward. More vagrants' wards were added along the road to St. Nicholas Cemetery. In 1914 the Union was reconstituted as Newcastle upon Tyne Poor Law Parish. During the First World War, the military took over the workhouse buildings for the treatment of venereal diseases in soldiers. From 1921 the hospital was run separately from the workhouse and became known as the Wingrove Hospital. In 1930 after the council took over the site, it was renamed Newcastle General Hospital. The Public Assistance facilities were at that time based in the workhouse part of the site, and this became known as Elswick Grange Institution. In 1939 the western part of the entrance building and the archway were taken down in case of bombing. In 1948 the whole site was brought together still under the name Newcastle General Hospital.
The former workhouse buildings were recorded in 2011 in advance of demolition. A small portion of wall survives as a boundary towards the south-eastern corner of the site on the west side of Brighton Grove (2023).
SITEASS
The original workhouse buildings survive as Newcastle General Hospital, but the late nineteenth century extension has been demolished to make way for a car park. The oldest workhouse building - the administration and kitchen block, dating to the 1840s, survives. A number of stone buildings to the rear survive (the workhouse bakery, male and female blocks and workshops). The administration block is built of sandstone ashlar and has three floors and a basement. A fine central entrance with triple arched doorway and fanlights. The first and second floor window openings have triangular pediments over them. Stone balustrade at eaves. Slate roof and ceramic finials. The bakehouse and workshops to the rear are simple stone single storey buildings with plain window openings, stone lintel above and sill below. The grand gatehouse to the hospital, built after 1882 has been demolished.
Site Type: Broad
Workhouse
SITEDESC
Newcastle upon Tyne Poor Law Union formally came into existence on 26 September 1836. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Governors, 34 in number, representing its 11 constituent parishes and townships. The average annual poor-rate expenditure for 1834-1856 had been £15,049 or 5s 6d per head of population. In 1839 the Board of Governors started buying land to accommodate a new workhouse for the City, which would replace the four parish Poor Law Houses (HER 6870, 11340, 16405, 16406) in Newcastle. Part of this is shown on Christie's map of 1870. By 1844 the first building, the administration block, had been built. The workhouse buildings were built in the south-east corner of the site at the junction of Westgate Road and Brighton Grove. They included a dining hall, laundry, bakehouse, workshops, school, sick wards, lying-in ward and imbecile's ward. Men were housed in the western side of the workhouse, women in the east. In 1868 work started on a new hospital on the west side of the site. A foundation stone was laid on 9th December by Mr Milvain, vice-chairman of the Board of Guardians. The building cost £16,302. It was opened on 7th December 1870 by the Board's chairman, Thomas Ridley. The hospital was two storeys high and was arranged in a U-shape enclosing a quadrangle of lawn. There were eight wards and three semi-basement wards on the north and east sides where the slope of the land made the foundations lower. The building was separated into men on the west and women on the east. A separate children's block was erected between the workhouse and the 1868 hospital. Boys had a school, dayroom, playground and dormitories in the northern half of the building, girls were in the south. There was a swimming bath north of the school. In 1882 the small entrance lodge was replaced by a three storey building with central archway. The lodge contained waiting rooms and receiving wards on the ground floor, a three roomed residence above and store rooms on the top floor. In 1902 a separate itch and venereal ward was erected west of the workhouse. In 1902 the children were moved to the Union's new cottage homes at Ponteland. The building was then used for the workhouse's aged and infirm inmates. The dining room was converted into a chapel. The first vagrants' ward was at the west of the site, north-west of the hospital. It later became an isolation ward. More vagrants' wards were added along the road to St. Nicholas Cemetery. In 1914 the Union was reconstituted as Newcastle upon Tyne Poor Law Parish. During the First World War, the military took over the workhouse buildings for the treatment of venereal diseases in soldiers. From 1921 the hospital was run separately from the workhouse and became known as the Wingrove Hospital. In 1930 after the council took over the site, it was renamed Newcastle General Hospital. The Public Assistance facilities were at that time based in the workhouse part of the site, and this became known as Elswick Grange Institution. In 1939 the western part of the entrance building and the archway were taken down in case of bombing. In 1948 the whole site was brought together still under the name Newcastle General Hospital.
The former workhouse buildings were recorded in 2011 in advance of demolition. A small portion of wall survives as a boundary towards the south-eastern corner of the site on the west side of Brighton Grove (2023).
Site Name
Westgate Road, Union Workhouse (General Hospital)
Site Type: Specific
Workhouse
HER Number
6342
Form of Evidence
Extant Building
Sources
1st edition Ordnance Survey map; Thomas Oliver, 1844, Historical and Descriptive Reference to the Public Buildings on the Plan of the Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead; George Hurrell and George P Harlan, 1966, The History of Newcastle General Hospital; various records in Tyne and Wear Archives including apprenticeship indentures 1808-1927, births register 1840-1923, register of lunatics 1865-1909, children's emigration papers 1922-29, register of infants received for reward 1902-36; Peter Higginbotham, 2014, The Workhouse, the story of an institution, www.workhouses.org.uk/NewcastleUponTyne/; CgMs Consulting, 2010, The campus for ageing and vitality and Tesco food store, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne - Archaeological Statement; Heaton History Group, 2015, www.heatonhistorygroup.org/2015/04/17/newcastles-war-hospitals
SURVIVAL
60-79%
YEAR1
2004
YEAR2
2024
English, British
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2305
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6445
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Newcastle
Description
A tiny church of England is shown on Ordnance Survey first edition. A much bigger church (named as a chapel) is shown on second edition and this still survives.
Site Type: Broad
Place of Worship
SITEDESC
A tiny church of England is shown on Ordnance Survey first edition. A much bigger church (named as a Centenary Chapel) is shown on second edition and this still survives.
Site Name
Dilston Road, Elswick Church of England
Site Type: Specific
Church
HER Number
6341
Form of Evidence
Extant Building
Sources
1st edition Ordnance Survey map
YEAR1
2004
English, British
Class
Domestic
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2272
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6429
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Newcastle
Description
Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition map.
Site Type: Broad
House
SITEDESC
Shown on 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map.
Site Name
Grainger Park Road, Anster Villa
Site Type: Specific
Villa
HER Number
6340
Form of Evidence
Extant Building
Sources
2nd edition Ordnance Survey map
YEAR1
2004
English, British
Class
Domestic
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2270
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6423
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Newcastle
Description
Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition map.
Site Type: Broad
House
SITEDESC
Shown on 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map.
Site Name
Hillfield, Grainger Park Road
Site Type: Specific
House
HER Number
6339
Form of Evidence
Extant Building
Sources
2nd edition Ordnance Survey map
YEAR1
2004
English, British
Class
Domestic
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2269
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6419
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Newcastle
Description
Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition map.
Site Type: Broad
House
SITEDESC
Shown on 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map.
Site Name
Fairfield Lodge, Grainger Park Road
Site Type: Specific
House
HER Number
6338
Form of Evidence
Extant Building
Sources
2nd edition Ordnance Survey map
YEAR1
2004
English, British
Class
Agriculture and Subsistence
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2241
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6388
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Elswick
Description
Shown on Ordnance Survey first edition map as West Farm. Shown on second edition as Wansbeck Home Female Penitentiary. Some of the buildings still survive next to St John's Cemetery.
Site Type: Broad
Farm
SITEDESC
Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as West Farm. Shown on second edition as Wansbeck Home Female Penitentiary. Some of the buildings still survive next to St John's Cemetery.
Site Name
West Farm, Elswick Road
Site Type: Specific
Farm
HER Number
6337
Form of Evidence
Extant Building
Sources
1st edition Ordnance Survey map
YEAR1
2004
English, British
Class
Domestic
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2274
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6382
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Elswick
Description
Shown on Ordnance Survey first edition map.
Site Type: Broad
House
SITEDESC
Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map.
Site Name
Montague Cottage, Elswick Road
Site Type: Specific
House
HER Number
6336
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Sources
1st edition Ordnance Survey map
SURVIVAL
None
YEAR1
2004
English, British
Class
Education
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
COMP2
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
DAY2
13
District
Newcastle
Easting
2274
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MATERIAL
Brick
MONTH1
11
MONTH2
03
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6380
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Victorian 1837 to 1901
Place
Elswick
Description
Shown on 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map. A photo exists of the school in 1974. A very grand building similar to Westgate Hill Primary School, which is listed. Three storeys, built in brick with ashlar detailing. The main elevation seems to have three projecting gables with tall rectangular windows. The central single-pitch gable has Tudor style timber detail above the third floor windows. It is a pentagonal bay. The gables to either side have decorative stepped gables with finials. There are a series of tall decorative chimneys. Windows in the rest of the building are smaller and square.
Site Type: Broad
School
SITEDESC
Shown on 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map. A photo exists of the school in 1974. A very grand building similar to Westgate Hill Primary School, which is listed. Three storeys, built in brick with ashlar detailing. The main elevation seems to have three projecting gables with tall rectangular windows. The central single-pitch gable has Tudor style timber detail above the third floor windows. It is a pentagonal bay. The gables to either side have decorative stepped gables with finials. There are a series of tall decorative chimneys. Windows in the rest of the building are smaller and square.
Site Name
Elswick Road, Junior School
Site Type: Specific
Junior School
HER Number
6335
Form of Evidence
Demolished Building
Sources
2nd edition Ordnance Survey map
SURVIVAL
None
YEAR1
2004
YEAR2
2014
English, British
Class
Domestic
COMP1
Jennifer Morrison
DAY1
23
District
Newcastle
Easting
2289
Grid ref figure
8
Map Sheet
NZ26SW
MONTH1
11
Grid Reference
NZ
Northing
6375
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Hanoverian 1714 to 1837
Place
Elswick
Description
Shown on Ordnance Survey first edition map as Elswick West Villa. On the second edition it is called Elswick House.
Site Type: Broad
House
SITEDESC
Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as Elswick West Villa. On the second edition it is called Elswick House. Early C19 villa. In 1873 it was occupied by Clement Lister, in 1874 by W.H. Darnell and from c.1887 by the prominent Methodist Sir William Haswell Stephenson (1836-1918). He was Mayor of Newcastle seven times and in 1903 had one of the mayoral barges placed in the garden of his house. In the 1930s the house was used as a children's home. After the Second World War it became St. Anne's Convent High School. This closed in 1983. A Marie Curie Centre now occupies the site.
Site Name
Elswick House or West Villa
Site Type: Specific
Villa
HER Number
6334
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Sources
Ordnance Survey first edition map, 1850
SURVIVAL
None
YEAR1
2004