NEW CASTLE 



NEWCASTLE 



455 



Caledonia. This principal island is about 240 

 miles in length, 25 in average breadth, and has an 

 area of 6450 sq. m. The long axis runs from north- 

 west to south-east ; the interior is greatly broken 

 by irregular mountain-chains ( highest point, Mount 

 II uniliul.l! . 5380 feet); and the entire island is 

 surrounded by coral-reefs. There are good har- 

 bours on the east coast, but the only one used is 

 Noumea, the capital (4601 inhabitants), on the 

 south-west coast. In the valleys the soil is fruit- 

 ful, producing the cocoa-nut, cotf'ee, maize, tobacco, 

 fruits, &c. But the most valuable natural products 

 are minerals', especially nickel, with copper, cobalt, 

 antimony, chrome, &c. There are several useful 

 timber-trees. Promising attempts have been made 

 to introduce wheat, the vine, and the silkworm. 

 Turtle and fish are abundant. Locusts frequently 

 devastate the crops. Besides the smelting of the 

 minerals, meat is preserved ami sent to France, 

 and some soap and tapioca are manufactured. 

 Wines and spirits, Hour, drapery, groceries, iron- 

 mongery, machinery, coal, &c. are imported to the 

 annual value of 400,000, and nickel, cobalt, chrome 

 ore, silver, lead ore. preserved meat, copra, coffee, 

 &c. exported to the average value of 300,000. 

 Every year about 130 vessels of 75,000 tons visit 

 the island, one-half being British. The total 

 population in 1S!K) numbered 62,790, thus made up 

 alwrigines (Caiiaques), 41,884 ; French colonists, 

 3505; convicts, 74M7 ; lilierated convicts and politi- 

 cal prisoners, 2521 ; officials and others, 3478. The 

 island was discovered by Captain Cook in 1774, 

 and was annexed by France in 1853. She l>egan 

 to use it a a convict station, and after 1871 sent 

 out great numbers of political prisoners, mostly 

 Communists. The aborigines are a mixture of two 

 type*, one resembling the Polynesians, the other 

 the Papuans. They were formerly cannibals, and 

 delighted in war, yet were hospitable, and skilful 

 tillers of the soil. They live now chiefly on vege- 

 table food. Leprosy is a scourge amongst them. 

 See the French works on New Caledonia by 

 Lemire (1878 and 1884), Riviere (1880), Chartier 

 ( 1884), Cordeil ( 1885), and Moncelon ( 1886). 



New Castle* capital of Lawrence county, 

 Pennsylvania, on the Shenango River, 50 miles by 

 rail NN\V. of Pittsburg, contains a college, large 

 rolling mills, foundries, and ma nu factories of nails, 

 furnaces, and Hour. Pop. ( 1900) 28,339. 



Xewrastje, a port of New South Wales, 

 75 miles NK. of Sydney by rail, at the mouth of 

 the Hunter River. It is the chief port of the north 

 coast, its shipping nearly equalling that of Sydney ; 

 coal and wool are the main exports. The harbour, 

 which is defended by a fort, is dangerous during 

 storms from the ESE. Pop. (1881)15.595; (1891) 

 1 -V.i 11. 



woastle, DUKES OF. See CAVENDISH and 

 PELIIAM. 



Xewrastle-nmler-Lyme, a parliamentary 

 and municipal borough of Staffordshire, on the 

 Lynie brook, 16 miles NNW. of Stafford and 

 147 by rail N\V. by N. of London. Pop. (1881) 

 17,493; (1891) 18,452. The asjiect of the town 

 lias of late years l>een much improved by the 

 widening of the main thoroughfares, and the 

 erection of new public buildings, notably the 

 town-hall (1890) and the high school (1876). 

 The latter was reconstructed under a new scheme 

 in 1874 from the amalgamation of various 

 ancient charities (the earliest founded 1602); its 

 distinctive features are the study of natural science 

 and modern languages. The parish church, partly 

 Early English and partly Decorated, was rebuilt 

 in 1876 from designs of Sir GilWt Scott, and has 

 a quaint old square tower of red sandstone with 

 pinnacles, and a line peal of bells. The manu- 



facture of hats was formerly a speciality of the 

 town, but has of late years been discontinued ; 

 brewing, malting, and the making of paper and 

 army clothing are now the principal industries, 

 whilst the surrounding district is noted for its 

 potteries, and numerous coal-mines are worked. 

 Of the castle, from which the town derives its 

 name, all traces have entirely disappeared ; it was 

 built by Edmund, Earl of Liiucaster, the youngest 

 son of Henry III. Newcastle, which confers the 

 title of duke upon the family of Clinton, returned 

 two members to parliament from 1353 to 1885, since 

 which time it has only had one representative. 



Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, a city and county 

 of itself, seated on the north bank of the Tyne, 

 275 miles from London, 117 from Edinburgh, and 

 10 from the German Ocean. It is the seat of a 

 bishopric founded in 1882. The city is governed 

 by a corporation consisting of a mayor, 16 alder- 

 men, and 48 town-councillors, and it returns two 

 members to parliament. Pop. (1801) 28,294; 

 (1841)71,850; (1881) 145,359; (1891) 186,345. 



During the Roman occupation of Britain the high 

 ground overlooking the river in the neighbourhood 

 of the castle was the site of the military station of 

 Pons .Klii. The ' Roman wall ' would probably form 

 its northern lioundary. Soon after the abandon- 

 ment of Pons ;Elii by the Romans, the Angles took 

 iiossession of it. Sulisequently it appears to have 

 Ix-i'ii a monastic settlement, and at t lie time of the 

 Conquest was known as Monkchester. Pandon, 

 which until 1299 was a vill quite distinct from New- 

 castle, is suj>]>osed to have been the place where, 

 aliout 653, Peada, son of Penda, king of the Mid 

 Angles, and Sigebert, king of the East Angles, were 

 biiptised by Bishop Finan. When the Conqueror 

 arrived at Monkchester in 1072 there was nothing 

 to l>e seen of the bridge above water, and the town 

 was too small or impoverished to victual his army. 

 Robert Curtliose, on his return from an expedition 

 against Malcolm in 1080, constructed a fortress 

 here, which was named the New Castle. The south 

 postern is probably a fragment of his work. William 

 Rufus is stated on doubtful authority to have 

 rebuilt the castle, and to have granted to the in- 

 habitants of the growing town many privileges and 

 immunities. He besieged the castle in 1095. The 

 present keep one of the most perfect examples of 

 a Norman stronghold in the kingdom was built 

 between 1172 ami 1177 at a cost of 911, 10s. 9d., 

 and the Great Gate of the castle the Black Gate as 

 it is now called in 1247, at acost of 514, 15s. lid. 



In the time of the first three Edwards the town 

 was enclosed by a wall, 8 feet thick and over 12 

 feet high, which embraced in its circuit the monas- 

 teries of the Black, the White, and the Grey Friars, 

 the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew, 

 together with the vill of Pandon. The levies for 

 the Scottish wars were usually directed to assemble 

 at Newcastle. In 1644 Newcastle, which had 

 declared for the king, was liesieged for ten months 

 by the Scots under General Leslie. This loyal 

 resistance of the town to the forces of the parlia- 

 ment is commemorated in the motto which it bears 

 on its coat of arms ' Foi liter Defendit Triumphant.' 

 Events of tragic importance in the annals of the 

 town were the visitations of the Asiatic cholera in 

 1H31 and 1853, and the great fire which destroyed 

 so much of the old town in 1854. 



The city occupies a striking and picturesque site, 

 being built for the most part on steep slopes and 

 gently rising ground. It abounds in contrasts, 

 such as the grim, old keep and the High Level 

 Bridge ; the modern Grey Street and the ancient 

 Side ; the stately stone buildings erected by 

 Grainger and the half-tiinl>ered Elizabethan houses 

 with projecting stories and latticed casements ; 

 the Elswick Works, a mile in extent, and Jesmond 



