1941 wreck of a German Junkers bomber thought to have been shot down 2 miles SE of Tynemouth. It was on a bombing raid from Amsterdam to the north-east of England. On the evening of 2 June 1941 three aircraft from 3/106 took off from Amsterdam-Schiphol each armed with four 250kg bombs. An air raid warning 'Red' was received at 23.50 by the crew of a drifter (the Marcia) on the Tyne's North Buoy to which a balloon was moored. RAF Corporal W.V. Armstrong was the NCO in charge of the balloon crew. He was on deck with the drifter's skipper, John Redpath Burn. Judging from the sound of the aircraft, it was assumed to be flying at low altitude and the silhouette resembled a Junkers 88. The aircraft dived towards the Marcia. Armstrong opened fire with the Lewis gun at a range of 200 yards. The aircraft passed to the west of the drifter then climbed into the clouds. The crew saw a flash just below the clouds about 2 miles SSE of the South Pier and then saw a large burning object dropping into the sea. Thus Fighter Command credited 936 Balloon Squadron with the 'probable destruction' of the enemy plane. Examination of the Luftwaffe Loss Returns shows that the Junkers 88 A-5 M2 + BL (w/nr 6180) of Kustenfliegergruppe 3/106 failed to return from operations that night. The builder of the plane was built by Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke AG. The 4 crew were missing: Oberfeldwebel Hans Vieck, pilot; Oberleutnant zur See Wilhelm Maschmann, observer; Unteroffizier Gerhard Emmerich, wireless operator; Unteroffizier Walter Boerge, gunner.

1940 wreck of a British Handley Page bomber which was abandoned near St Mary's Lighthouse. A Mark I twin-engined heavy bomber; one of a batch of 180 delivered between August 1938 and June 1939 to Contract No. 549267/36. Abandoned over Whitley Bay out of fuel on return from security patrol, 7th April 1940. The plane of 83 Sqn RAF Scampton had taken off on 6th April at 19.15 on operational patrol. On its return journey it ran out of fuel and crashed near St. Mary's Lighthouse. Crew: P/O W. Roberts, Pilot RNZAF, aged 25, was killed. P/O K. Brooke-Taylor, Obs RNZAF, aged 21, was killed. Sgt. A. McNichol, A/G, was killed. LAC D.W. Sharpe, A/G, was missing. P/Os Roberts and Brooke-Taylor are buried in Chevington Cemetery. The plane was built at Radlett. Delivered in 1938/9. Propulsion was by 2 Bristol Pegasus XVIII radial piston engines. Each engine was 1000hp. Armaments: 1 fixed and 1 flexible 0.303 inch nose guns and twin 0.303 inch guns in dorsal and ventral positions. Maximum bomb load was 4000lbs.

The wall between the churchyard and former rectory is of some interest, incorporating the north wall of a building with a central pair of blocked doorways and three triangular vents to either side. This might conceivably have been a tithe barn {Peter Ryder 1993}.

The fort was possibly used as a market between 270 and 360 AD. This appears to have been incorporated into the architecture of the interior, with the space between the northern barracks and workshop and the granaries being occupied by a broad street or open space. This may have originally occurred because planned buildings were not constructed in the northern part of the fort and the resulting space was metalled and used as an assembly area for the cohort. This later became a public space. Small-change coinage, the main evidence for commercial activity, is absent from this space but is concentrated to the north and south and within the narrow lane between the principia and praetorium. Bidwell suggests that the market was located here because it was on the north-south road. Heslop adds that it was close to the Tyne crossing. 4th century Local Traditional Ware ceramics were also found in concentration here, again suggesting the presence of a market. Dated C3-C4.

In 2001 excavations on High Bridge uncovered the remains of a roundhouse, dated by radiocarbon to the late Bronze Age. This is the first evidence of occupation in Newcastle centre before the arrival of the Romans. The roundhouse was at the base of a long and complex sequence of later deposits, separated from the main medieval levels by a thick layer of dark plough soil. The palynological analysis of samples from this soil produced evidence of an open, agricultural environment, quite different from the intensively managed ecology of the medieval urban landscape. It may be no more than coincidence that the roundhouse was found adjacent to Pilgrim Street, i.e. on the Great North Road, but it is possible that the course of the ancient route is making itself known through the discovery of settlement along its line (see HER 1067).

Shopping centre and hotel, designed by Bernard Engle and Partners completed in 1969 in a stereotype slab-and-podium design. The basement contained a bar and nightclub, the ground floor a shopping centre with 93 roomed hotel on top initially operated under the Swallow Hotel brand. Later open under the Quality Hotel chain which went into administration in Jan 2009. The hotel was reopened in June 2009 as Newgate Hotel. Changes to the shopping centre occurred in the 1990s including the enclosing of the open air courtyards and the removal of the public toilets.

A 2.5 acre glass-fronted development of 1999-2002 by Geoffrey Reid Architects, crossing Low Friar Street by a glazed bridge. The developer claimed that the frontage was the highest glass-walled construction in the UK. Behind are a multiplex cinema, bars, clubs, casino, restaurants, shops and a car park.

The only purpose built band hall in the north of England. The Hetton Silver Band was founded on 1st April 1887. Their tin practice hut was replaced in 1912 by this brick hall. Built in red brick with decorative pale brick bands. The words 'Hetton Silver Band' are painted above the double doors. The gable end has a triangular rendered pediment with central circular adornment, a parapet with decorative end finials and stepped concrete kneelers at the eaves. The slate roof has an attractive brick eaves cornice and there is a stepped chimney at one end. The hall was in use until 2009. Money was raised to dismantle it brick-by-brick and rebuild it at Beamish Open Air Museum by the community of Hetton, Hetton Lyons Primary School and the Friends of Beamish. The Trustees of Hetton Silver Band donated £10,000 from the sale of the land. Kevin Doonan Architect recorded the building using rectified photography to ensure an accurate re-build. The rebuilt hall was unveiled at Beamish Colliery Village on 11 May 2013.

Walker Park was opened in 1891 on land leased to Walker Board by Newcastle Corporation. The park was built for the large and growing community which developed alongside a colossal expanding industrial area. Facilities in the park included a promenade, bowling greens and pavilion, a lake, tennis courts, meandering walks through woodland overlooking the picturesque Walker Dene and Christ’s Church beyond. The park was enclosed by a band of trees and shrubs planted along the boundary. In 1901 a statue commemorating Rabbie Burns was erected by the local Burns Club supported by the numerous ship builders who moved to Walker from Clydesdale. By the 1940s the layout had been altered with a new bandstand, additional tree and shrub planting and the relocation of the tennis courts. Following a design competition in 1988 parts of the park were renewed with a new entrance at the south west corner, a new play area, paths, shrub beds, an amphitheatre, five aside area, grassed dry lake, bowling pavilion, lighting and seating areas. Despite the changes to the layout the original boundary, some compartments, the majority of the original path routes and many trees have survived.

In 1901 a cast-iron statue commemorating Rabbie Burns was erected in Walker Park by Walker Burns Club supported by the numerous ship builders who moved to Walker from Clydesdale. It was to mark the visit to Newcastle by Robert Burns on 29th May 1797. The sculptor was DW Stevenson from Edinburgh. It was cast by Walter Macfarlane & Co from Glasgow. The statuette stood on top of a cast-iron drinking fountain. The statuette comprised of six cast sections bolted together. It stood with an outstretched right arm on top of a circular decorated base. The only other known extant Robert Burns staue with an outsretched arm is a plaster maquette produced by David Stevenson for the 1877 Kilmarnock Statue Competition. David Stevenson produced other statues of Robert Burns at Leith (1898) and Toronto (1902). The circular base had a plaque on it which read 'PRESENTED TO THE DISTRICT COUNCIL BY THE BURNS CLUB, WALKER-ON-TYNE, 1901'. The ornate pattern No. 19 cast-iron drinking fountain by Walter Macfarlane & Co consisted of a tall central column decorated with projecting acanthus leaves and foliage. Half way down the column was a shield with one of Robert Burns' best known poems on it: 'IT'S COMING YET FOR A' THAT, THAT MAN TO MAN THE WORLD O'ER, SHALL BROTHERS BE FOR A' THAT'. Below the shield was a row of four taps around the column. Tin cups hung on chains from just below the base of the statuette. Below the taps were four semi-circular basins, supported on four thick legs formed from rampant lions, all sitting on a cast-iron base surmounted on an octagonal concrete podium of six flights of steps in four flights with four rockery beds between them. Other examples of Macfarlane No. 19 drinking fountains can be seen at Euston Park in Fleetwood, Lancs (listed grade 2), Derby Park in Bootle, Cape Town and on the Esplanade at Thurso. The fountain was unveiled on 13 July 1901 by Mr H. Crawford Smith MP. The Walker Park memorial fountain was subject to vandalism in the early 1970s. The Burns statuette was removed for repairs in 1975. The arms and head which had been knocked off, were re-attached and the lost fingers on the right hand were recreated in glass fibre. The statue was then re-sited in Heaton Park on the original cast-iron base on a new concrete cylindrical pedestal. It was unveiled on 24th September 1975. It is not known if the drinking fountain remained in-situ at Walker Park or was dismantled in 1975. The original location is now a domed paved island in pink block pavious with a central lamp-post. Vandalism continued at heaton Park. In 1984 the statue was stolen by youths, rolled down a hill in the park and broken into several pieces. The fragments were recovered and stored by Newcastle City Council at Jesmond Dene Nursery, where they still remain. The cast-iron base with its inscribed plaque was not rescued. A plastic plaque from 1975 was kept. The Walker Park lottery bid [2010] has plans to recast the statue and put it back into the park.