Newcastle town wall, Close Gate

Close Gate, across the Close, was built in the mid 14th century. The only view of it (and that unreliable) shows a 3 storey tower pierced by a single central passage, without either a pedestrian gate or flanking guardrooms. However, a lease of 1770 records 3 lofts or rooms in the tower upon Close Gate. A 16th century reference to the purchase of a rope for its drawbridge suggests there was a ditch west of, or a drawbridge pit beneath, the gate itself. Damaged in 1644, it was repaired in 1648; and it was one of the gates ordered to be built up in 1745. When the prisoners had to be removed from the Magazine tower after the Tyne Bridge was washed away in 1771 the Close Gate was used as a temporary prison. It was finally demolished in 1797. SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT