In 1294 Edward I commissioned war galleys for his war against France from various English ports, and the accounts for that built at Newcastle survive. The keel was 135 feet long and the ship was to be propelled by 60 oars and a sail. The timber cost £50 8s 4d. The nails cost £22 16s 7.5d. Pitch, tar and caulking material cost £11 2s. The carpenter's wages cost £66 4s 1.75d. Work lasted 41 weeks. Some 21 men were employed, including a master shipwright, his assistant, carpenters, hammer-men, 'holders-up', painters, a squad for launching the ship, berthing, rigging, smiths, sawyers and a watchmen. Archaeological excavations in 1985 on the site of the law courts suggest that the building yard lay beside the Pandon Burn. Fragments of 13th and 14th century hull planking, trenails used to tie planks and frames and numerous clench nails used to bind plank to plank were found. This is the only surviving account for medieval shipbuilding on the River Tyne. Dated C13th.

In 1304 the prior of Tynemouth used the opportunity of Queen Margaret, second wife of Edward I, staying at the priory, to obtain a royal charter for a fair at Tynemouth. This was revoked the following year on the grounds that it was detrimental to trade at Newcastle. Dated C14th.

There is no early documentary evidence for Sandhill and there has been no excavation, but without Sandhill, The Side and All Hallows Bank (today Akenside Hill), the medieval bridge would have led nowhere. The position of Sandhill near the bridgehead, its triangular shape, the location of the later Guildhall on its south side, and the existence of the market cross (Cale Cross) at its north end, all support the possibility that an early market place was located there.

The original entrance into the 1080 castle by Robert Curthose was perhaps on the site of the Bailey Gate near the south-west corner of the 12th century keep and was approached by the street called Bailiffgate. Appears to have been the earliest of the principle entrances to the Castle. The gate gave access to a narrow street that connected the Long Stairs (HER 6571) with the upper end of The Side. This street can be seen on Hutton (1772) and Corbridge (1723). It is portrayed as a broader street by Speed (1610). Harbottle deduced that this street must have run close to the outer lip of the Castle ditch. The southern part of the street was known as the Castle-Mote. Dated C11th.

Fragmentary foundations were found of two possible churches, along with the foundations of a further stone building, excavated in 1977 and laid out for display in one of the railway arches, which may have been a Saxon church tower. Building B may represent the first stone structure within the Anglo Saxon cemetery, possibly a church or chapel. Part of a clay-and-rubble foundation was found north of the Castle keep, edged with roughly squared sandstone blocks (probably reused Roman masonry). Only one corner survived, the south-east, but from this the course of the south wall could be traced towards the west. The wall overlay the northern sleeper wall of the Roman east granary and was disturbed by burials and a Civil War robber trench. A deposit of clay-bonded rubble on the north side may have represented the corresponding wall foundation on this side. A foundation raft beneath comprised of dark clay and sandstone rubble, and tooled stonework (from the outer north wall of the Roman east granary?). The foundation raft overlay a shallow spit of cemetery soil and at least two graves. The building may have been destabilised by grave-digging or may have been deliberately demolished. It was then overlain by building A. This is thought to represent a substantial rebuilding of a church or chapel. The evidence lay in a robber trench probably cut during the Civil War in order to find stone for the artillery bastion. Two courses of the footings of the southern wall were found at the bottom of a robber trench in railway arch 27. A further robber trench was found butted up against the north face of the northernmost sleeper wall of the Roman east granary. Tooled facing stones of a wall on a rubble foundation were recorded, and possibly some evidence for a sequence of renewed floors. Parts of the structure were cut by a foundation associated with the construction of the 1168 Castle keep. Building 68 has been interpreted as a tower or porch belonging to the church or chapel (building A). A small but substantial stone building stood to the west of building A. Its foundations were 2.10m wide and made of sandstone rubble and cobbles capped with clay. The foundations were dug to a depth of 1m through burials and into the Roman layers beneath. No burials cut or overlay this structure, so it concluded that the building represents the latest pre-1080 structural event in this part of the Anglo Saxon cemetery. Above the footings was a plinth course of very large sandstone blocks. Above this was a second course of dressed sandstone (likely to be reused Roman material). An opening in the western wall suggested by a through-stone chamfered on the west and south sides, between 0.99m and 1.33m wide, has been compared with the doorway openings in Saxon church towers given in Taylor (1978, p 187). A short south-west return wall at the eastern end of the north wall may represent an opening leading from the tower into the nave of a church. The floor was probably robbed out. It seems feasible to interpret building B as a simple rectangular stone church or chapel, built to provide the cemetery with a place of worship. Nolan et al (2010, p 256-8) suggest a 10th century date for the structure. If buildings A and 68 represent a chapel, it is significant that a path, which was metalled in the late Roman or Anglo Saxon periods, is respected by early burials and leads towards the north-west end of the postulated nave, where one would expect a door.

Late Saxon-period church. Craster includes a documentary reference to the saints. Leland wrote, during the reign of Henry VIII, that 'The place where now stands the Monastery of Tynemouth was anciently called by the Saxons Benebalcrag'. Tynemouth Priory was sacked by the Danes in 800. Three kings were buried here - Oswin, King of Deira (651), Osred, King of Northumbria (792), Malcolm III, King of Scotland (1093). Three crowns still adorn the North Tyneside coat of arms.

Archaeological excavations in 2003 and 2004 at Nos. 46-54 The Close found a U-shaped arrangement of timber stakes driven into the natural clay. It was open to the north (i.e. away from the river). It measured 1m across. Eight stakes were present, all unworked apart from one which was halved and roughly dressed. Fragments of wickerwork had been wound around the stakes on the eastern side of the structure. Inside the structure they was a deposit of mixed clay, silt and timber fragments which probably post-dated it. Three stakes were removed. Two of these were oak, the third was alder or hazel. The alder or hazel stake still had bark attached which produced a calibrated AMS radiocarbon date of between AD 910 and 920 to between AD 960 and 1030. Originally thought to be a fish weir, the structure is now tentatively interpreted as the base of a wattle-lined pit. Two circular arrangements of stakes of similar dimensions were found in the subsequent archaeological monitoring of a foundation pile trench. These stake features are undated. The feature may represent pre-Norman Conquest activity or may relate to the first riverside development along the river after the construction of the Norman castle. Dated C10-C11.

In the south-west part of the Hilton Hotel site a small length of Roman paved road was uncovered. It ran down the slope at an angle and aligns roughly with the medieval Mirk Lane. This cannot have been the main route down to the bridgehead as it was not constructed until the 3rd century AD. It probably represents a subsidiary road or track that divided the landscape into farms and estates.

Urned cremations were found on the BEMCO site in 2008. They were not grouped away from the vicus buildings like the inhumations, but were within the tenements of the properties. Do they post-date the vicus buildings? Check

Two stone coffins were found east of a Roman road on the BEMCO site in 2008. The lids were meant to be seen on the surface but the crispness of the stone carving suggested that grass had covered them before long. Two similar coffins were found nearby in 1903. Bone preservation of the burials was very poor but a fine Whitby jet pin and a glass bead was found in one them, suggesting that the occupant was female. The individuals were probably the family of one of the senior officials in the Roman army, possibly fort commander. The coffins are in the Great North Museum store.