Human skeleton discovered by workmen laying sewers on a building site in 1976. The remains were found 2ft below the surface on a layer of solid limestone. Three skeletons were found nearby in 1965, and these were suggested as plague victims or soldiers from the Battle of Boldon Hill in 1644 {1}.

Industrial production of glass commenced on Tyneside in C17. The two areas concerned were the Closegate, operated initially by the Dagnia family, and the Ouseburn (see SMR 1913-1915).Most of the production was of bottle glass, crown and plate, but some crystal was made by the Dagnias who managed to achieve the process of using lead oxide to produce good quality glass (a technique discovered by George Ravenscroft) {1}. Edward Dagnia owned a glasshouse in Bristol in 1651. His three sons, Onesiphorus, Edward and John set up the Skinner Burn or Close Gate glasshouses just outside the city walls near to Close Gate. The Dagnias erected their first glasshouse here in 1684 and ultimately had four works in this area making bottles and flint glass. In 1730 the Dagnia family (the three brothers had all died by 1717) employed John Williams as manager of the glassworks. He was a descendant of another John Williams, manager of the Bristol glasshouse in 1651. This John Williams used to work at Stourbridge (see SMR 3482). In 1731 he married Margery, widow of John Dania and within a short time two of the original Dagnia glasshouses became John Williams and Company. John Williams died in 1763 and his two sons carried on the business as Williams and Company except that the lease of the works owned by Christopher and John Dagnia was now expired. The two Dagnias let the works to John Cookson and Company until 1775, and the Cookson family eventually acquired this group of glasshouses. The two glasshouses of the original Onesiphorus, which passed to the Williams family became extinct in 1782, destroyed by fire {2}. It is said that Forth Bank and Close Gate was the place chosen by the first Huguenot glassmakers in Newcastle, but permanent glass-making was really started here by the Dagnia family. There were four glasshouses at Close Gate. "The Flint Glasshouse Without Closegate" for making white glass and bottles. This was probably the flint warehouse recorded by Houghton in 1696, then the only one on the Tyne. This was one of the glasshouses transferred to John Williams and Company. Francis Rudson may have been one of the partners until he became bankrupt in 1751. "The Bottle-house Without Closegate" had John Harrop as partner in 1701 {3}. Bourne discusses the advent of glassmakers from Lorraine. After settling at Closegate, they moved to Staffordshire {1}. Glass waste including cylinder edge pieces, offcuts from quarry cutting, glaziers waste was found west of the town wall during excavations at Close Gate in 1989 {4}. In 1885 the remains of what appears to have been a glass cone was reported in the Newcastle Chronicle.

Five storeys, brick, double pitched hipped slate roof. Eastern elevation to dock - arcaded ground floor of six round arched bays. Upper floors of eleven bays, with loading doors in seventh bay. Machiolated brick eaves cornice. 4 bays wide. Designed by Thomas Meik. Built c.1862 next to Dobson's No. 1 warehouse (SMR 5067). For storing grain. Demolished in 1990s.

Six storeys, brick, double pitched hipped slate roof. Eastern elevation to dock - 2 storey arcaded ground floor of six bays. Eleven bays to upper floors with loading doors in seventh bay. Machiolated brick eaves cornice 4 bays wide. Probably originally granaries. Architect John Dobson. Built 1856-8. Demolished in early 1990s.

Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map. Now built over by International Centre for Life. Sheep and cattle markets were first held here on 27th July 1830. Before, and even after that time, Newcastle butchers bought their cattle at Morpeth Market. Newcastle's cattle market soon overtook Morpeth. Cattle markets were held every Tuesday. In 1843 the space for holding the market was enlarged and proper facilities built. There were 618 pens for sheep, 9 fold yards for cattle with two entrances from the street each 8 yards wide. By OS second edition a new cattle market had been built with slaughter houses on the former Knox's Field. The former cattle market was now a sheep and pig market.

The only surviving element of the 1887 Royal Jubilee Exhibition (see SMR 5063).
This structure was listed Grade II in 1971 with the following description:
'Bandstand. Circa 1875. Painted base obscured by planting; cast iron with zinc roof. Octagonal platform has scrolled iron balustrade; thin columns support arches with decorative spandrels. Round-topped incurved roof has spike finial.' {1}

The only surviving building from the 1929 exhibition (see SMR 5063). Now used as Military Vehicles Museum. Steel-framed and clad in artificial stone for the security of the valuable works of art it once displayed {1}. 120ft square pavilion with a colonnaded entrance, reinforced concrete roof and large cast iron framed dome {3}.
This building was listed Grade II in 1989 with the following description:
'A Military Vehicle Museum (former Palace of Arts) II Exhibition building. Built 1928-9. Steel framed with concrete cladding. Single storey. 15 bays by 19 bays. The main facade has a projecting central portico with 10 base-less and capital-less square fluted columns, raised on a 7 step base, with a 3 step flat parapet which continues around the whole building. Either side are 3 bay blind wings with 3 blind windows each. The building is surmounted by a central octagonal cupola, topped by a shallow octagonal dome. The side facades are articulated with 20 base-less and capital-less fluted pilasters. Interior has a central domed space and linking galleries all round, divided by wooden panelled walls with Art Deco style doorways between. This building was built as the Palace of Arts for the North East Coast Exhibition, opened by the Prince of Wales on 14 May 1929. After the exhibition closed on 26 October 1929 the building was purchased by Newcastle upon Tyne Corporation for the Museum of Science and Engineering opened in 1934. It now houses the Military Vehicles Museum, it is the only surviving structure from the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition.'

South east corner of the Town Moor, 125 acres. The Exhibition Park was the site of the Royal Jubilee Mining, Engineering and Industrial Exhibition of 1887. All that survives of the 1887 layout is the bandstand (HER 5065). The North East Coast Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art, opened on May 14th 1929. The aim was to promote trade and boost confidence at a time of economic hardship. The 1929 exhibition left us with the former Palace of Arts (HER 5064), and a promenade from Claremont Road. The 1929 exhibition featured palaces of Engineering (occupied by big firms and shipbuilders), Industries (demonstrating new ideas such as sewing machines and vacuum cleaners) and Arts, 12 Egyptian towers and an African village (with imported Africans who were required to live out their daily lives there). The stadium with a 2,000 seat stand hosted a Highland Games and sheepdog trials. Traces of its turf banking remained visible until the 1990s. The exhibition attracted 4,373,138 visitors. The architects for the art deco, Egyptian-style and futuristic buildings were Sunderland's W and TR Milburn, specialists in cinema and theatre design. After the exhibition closed, there were proposals to retain the site as film studios. The palaces were built of concrete and compressed asbestos on steel girder frames. The Palace of Arts (which survives as the Military Vehicles Museum but was once the Newcastle Museum of Science and Engineering, a direct successor to the exhibition) was approached by an elegant bridge (demolished in 1961) over a widened and deepened lake. There was a festival hall to seat 20,000 people, a fountain lit by coloured lights, an amusement park including a Himalayan railway reaching 80ft in height, a jungle, a 23ft high female figure representing industry and the region's first official car park. There were also a range of pavilions - the garden club with roof veranda, the women's and artisans section, restaurants, horticultural exhibitions, gardens, tennis courts and bowling greens (which still survive). Smith's Crisps were launched at the event as was Newcastle Exhibition Ale. The staging of the 1929 exhibition was in response to the gathering Depression. Some firms claimed they won orders through the exhibition, but it also had a great social impact and signified the North East's determination not to stand passively by in the face of a worsening economic climate. The lake was used by a model yacht club until 2007. Their 1894 clubhouse still stands.

Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map.

Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map.