242 ANTIQUITIES OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 



ttire, contatiing upwards of 50 chambers ; but is at prefent ne- 

 glected, to the great misfortune of the aged among that numer- 

 ous and laborious people. 



The Iiifinnary is behind the ftreet of Weft-gate. It was built by 

 fubfcription for the bejncfit of the town and county of Newcajlk, 

 and the two counties of NortbumberlandandDurham. It had a donation 

 of iooo/. from Sir Walter Calverley Blacket, Bart. 1759; by whofe 

 appointment the annual interefl of io/. is given to a clergyman 

 to attend it. It is a large handfome building, in a pleafant airy 

 fltuation, in a Held, called The Forth ; faid to have been given to 

 the corporation by K. Edward III (aj, containing eleven acres, as 

 furveyed by order of parliament, 1649, and then valued at i2/. 

 per annum ; part of which is a fquare bowling-green, terraced 

 round, and fhaded with tall elms, much reforted to in the hours 

 of leifure by the admirers of rural objects. 



Subfcriptions have been lately fet on foot for the fupport of a 

 Lying-m-hofpitat, and of an Hofpital for Lunatics ; which will un- 

 doubtedly meet with a generous encouragement, in a country 

 thus diftinguiflied by acts of humanity- and beneficence. 







Befides thefe public ftructures, there are fome private ones re- 

 vered for their antiquity, remarkable for having been the pa- 

 laces or temporary refidence of perfons of royal or baronial dig- 

 nity. In Parpen is a houfe, called, 



l, which was the palace of the kings of Northumber* 

 land under the Saxon heptarchy. In that part of the town, called 

 The Side, is an atuicnt houfe, an appendix to the caftle, which 



(a) Grey's Chorographiti 



was 



