泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔

Understand

thumb | 300px | Tyne Bridge and The Sage The Iraqi and Syrian occupation of town is nowadays forgotten, let bygones be bygones. But in 200 AD the Roman army recruited from those territories and brought so many to serve here that the depot fort was called Arbeia, the Arab place. Their job was to tote supplies from the ship wharves to the old castle of Pons Aelius, then up the military roads west along Hadrian's Wall (built 80 years earlier) or north into the bandit lands of the Picts. The Romans left around 400 AD and in their wake eventually grew up a kingdom of Northumbria, which knew the town as Munucceaster. But again and again, the region was devastated by Viking raids: what it needed was a new castle.

Robert Curthose obliged in 1080, fearing attack by Scots or rebels, though he mostly warred with his own family. (He was the eldest son of William the Conqueror but was disinherited, to spend his last 20 years in dungeons.) His wooden Novum Castellum was soon replaced by a stone castle, then another in 1172 which is the ruin you see today. Its walls were extended to protect the entire town, which stood out against the Scots and for several months against Cromwell; the region was Royalist in the Civil Wars then fell to assault.

Newcastle became industrial early in the Middle Ages, from salt-panning, coal that was shallow and easily mined, limestone quarried for masonry and quicklime, and farm produce from the fertile hinterland. Trade and transport by sea were important, …

Get around

Walking is always first choice for city centre, the university main campuses, Quayside and the opposite river bank of Gateshead.

See

thumb | 300px | Central Arcade The River Tyne north bank has a footpath and cycleway. It's called "Hadrian's Way" but is entirely modern, as the Roman original is lost under the city centre. , completed in 1928, has a striking steel arch similar to Sydney Harbour Bridge. It carries A167 and has sidewalks on both sides. , opened in 2001, is a cyclist and pedestrian tilting bridge. It's often called the Blinking or Winking Bridge for the way the footpath deck tilts up to allow river traffic to pass. That's an infrequent occurrence: Gateshead Council lists upcoming tilts. Gateshead: the south bank of the Tyne is a separate city, but its main sites are along the riverside a short walk from Newcastle. For instance BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art is by the Millennium Bridge, and Gateshead also has Sage Music Centre, the Athletics Stadium, and Metro shopping centre. Angel of the North stands at the south tip of the city. is the elegant heart of the city, built by Richard Grainger between 1835 and 1842. It includes the indoor Grainger Market (see Buy), Theatre Royal, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street. Grey Street is sublime, a curving classical facade along the line of a culverted stream. It's named for Charles Grey (1764-1845), the 2nd Earl Grey and liberating, modernising Prime Minister who passed the Great Reform Act of 1832. at the top of Grey Street was erected in 1838, standing 135 ft / 41 m tall. (Mi'lud also gives his name to Earl Grey Tea.) In 1941 the …