Priory, Castle and Tyne: a story to tell

Fotos For Art’s latest limited-edition Fine Artwork shows an aerial view of Tynemouth's Priory and Castle, with the river Tyne beyond. I used a drone (setting off from near the area) to get the 'different to the norm' perspective and the variety of photographs I wanted for this work. The photographs are then manipulated and aligned to focus attention on the Priory and Castle in its environment at the mouth of the Tyne. Available in my shop.

Priory, Castle and Tyne: limited-edition Fine Art print

HISTORY OF TYNEMOUTH PRIORY AND CASTLE

The complex history of Tynemouth headland spans over 2,000 years. It is dominated by the remains of a medieval priory, which was protected like a castle by walls, towers and a gatehouse.

The earliest evidence for people living on the headland comes in the form of traces of two circular wooden houses. One was a large building, 11.5 metres in diameter, which may have been part of an Iron Age settlement. The other, 4.5 metres in diameter, may have flourished in the Roman period, in the 2nd century AD.

The first monastery was probably sponsored by one of the Kings of Northumbria. It existed in the early 8th century when Bede wrote about Heribald, an abbot of Tynemouth who died in 745, and it was sufficiently established in 792 when Osred II, King of Northumbria, was buried in its church.

In the 11th century, a story emerged that the monastery had been founded in the mid 7th century, when Oswine, another Northumbrian king, was buried there.

In the 9th century the monastery was flourishing. It became a target for raids in 800, 832, 865, 870, and one in 875 that finally destroyed it.

Close up of Priory, Castle and Tyne

THE RE-FOUNDING OF THE MEDIEVAL MONASTERY

A monastic community was not re-established for over 200 years. In 1065, the bones of St Oswine were said to have been found in a church on the headland, St Mary’s. In 1083, Turchil, a monk of Jarrow, re-founded the monastery at Tynemouth.

Around 1090, a programme of new building at Tynemouth began, initially with a church dedicated to St Oswine and the Virgin Mary. Twenty years later, St Oswine’s remains were brought from Jarrow to a permanent tomb in the new church at Tynemouth, a sign that the east end of the church was finished and that the priory was to be a place of pilgrimage.

The economic success of the priory enabled the construction of new buildings. The choir and presbytery were rebuilt from about 1190 and the tall lancet windows of the east end wall remain as an impressive example of early Gothic architecture. In 1220–50, the church was extended by a new nave, of which the west front is an impressive survival.

But, success also brought conflict with the town of Newcastle. The priory’s port on the Tyne at North Shields threatened Newcastle’s shipping monopolies in coal, wool and fish. In 1270 the mayor of Newcastle took an armed force and burned North Shields.

Close up of Priory, Castle and Tyne

THE PRIORY FORTIFICATIONS

The ever-present possibility of war in Scotland, the vulnerability of Northumberland to border raids, and the usefulness of the Tyne as a base for English military campaigns, resulted in 1296 in a grant by Edward I allowing Tynemouth to be properly fortified. A high perimeter wall with towers enabled soldiers to defend the priory in times of war and lawlessness.

In 1390, renewed war with Scotland caused Richard II to give a large sum to repair the priory defences, with further money from the Duke of Lancaster, and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. Some funds went towards the great gatehouse – a large and sophisticated defensive structure as strong as that in any castle. The gatehouse and sections of the priory walls remain today.

Tynemouth Priory and Castle: open-edition Fine Art print

VICTORIAN REVIVAL

At the end of the Napoleonic War in 1815, the ordnance depot closed but a master gunner continued to look after the guns and a limited supply of equipment. As new threats emerged in the 1840s and 1850s, with the growth of shipbuilding, the export of coal and the building of Armstrong’s armament factory at Elswick in 1859, Tynemouth’s defences were improved in the second half of the 19th century.

King Edwards Bay

MODERN COAST FORTRESS

By 1905 the castle was equipped with two x 6-inch, one x 9.2-inch and two x 12-pounder guns (with more at Spanish Battery). These protected the river mouth and its extensive industries from both long-range bombardment by large warships and fast raids by small torpedo-carrying boats.

Afterwards, the site was purged of many military structures in order to display the priory and castle remains as a historic monument, leaving only the Warrant Officer’s House and the gun emplacements along the cliff edge as evidence of its 20th-century role.