2 NEWCASTLE 
pointed. In 1400 the town was firft conftituted a county 
by itfelf by Henry Vi. at which period a fheriff and fix al¬ 
dermen were fubftituted for the bailiffs. A recorder, 
dight chamberlains, two coroners, a fword-bearer, a com¬ 
mon clerk, and eight ferjeants at mace, were added in 
1516; and in 1559 the aldermen were increafed to ten, 
and the twenty-four eleftors conftituted a common-coun¬ 
cil. The powers of juftices were conferred on the mayor, 
the aldermen, and recorder, by queen Elizabeth; and 
king James I. generally confirmed thefe, and all the former 
privileges enjoyed by the corporation. Newcaftle fends 
two members to parliament, who are chofen by the free- 
burgefies refident and non-refident; but this freedom, to 
which the right of election is annexed, is not partial, like 
Retford and other places, in its defcent to the eldeft fon, 
or, like Durham, to the youngeft fons of freemen, but 
extends to all the fons born after the father became free. 
The number is too extenfive to fubmit to controul. The 
■contefts for the reprefentation of this town have been 
numerous ; but none of them have been attended with 
any circumftances which would arreft the attention of the 
public. The anceftors of Mr. Brandling, one of the late 
members, have reprefen ted the place lo long fince as 
the reign of Edward VI. and in feveral parliaments from 
that period to thelaft parliament in 1812, when Cuthbert 
Ellifon, efq. fucceeded, and continues in the prefent: the 
other member is fir Matthew White Ridley, bart. There 
is no relolution of the lioufe of commons refpeCling the 
right of ele&ion ; but it is admitted to be in the corpora¬ 
tion and free burgefies, refident and non-refident. The 
number of voters is 2500; and the returning-officer is the 
file riff. 
This town abounded with religious eftabliftiments after 
as well as before the conqueft. In 1086, a BenediCtine 
nunnery is mentioned as exifting here ; in which Agas, 
the mother-in-law of Malcolm, and Chriftiana her fifter, 
took the veil fubfequently to the death of that prince and 
his fon, at the fiege of the caftle of Alnwick. Another 
nunnery, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, and faid to have 
been founded by Henry III. ftood in the field behind the 
prefent Nun-gate. At the dilfolution it was exceedingly 
poor, though originally poffefied of large eftates. The 
lioufe of the Black Friars is ftill Handing; as is alfo the 
church belonging to it, in which Edward Ealiul alienated 
to Edward I. the five Scottilh counties next adjoining to 
the borders of England. This lioufe was granted to the 
mayor and burgell'es, who afterwards transferred it to 
nine of the ancient trades of the town, feven of whom 
hold their public meetings in it to the prefent day. The 
priory of Auguftine friars, which ftood on the fite of the 
general hofpital, owed its origin to William lord Rofs, 
baron of Wark, aboutthe year 1291. It was of great ex¬ 
tent and magnificence, and the ufual refidence of the 
kings of England when paffing through Newcaftle on 
their route to Scotland. Here was a priory of Francifoans, 
or grey friars, eftabliflied in 1300 by the family of the 
Carliols. In this monaftery the celebrated Duns Scotus 
and friar Martin took the order of St. Francis, and refided 
during many years. In that part of the town called Con- 
ftable-Garth was a houfe of brethren de Penitentia Jefu 
Chrifti, fubfequently granted by Edward III. to the Car¬ 
melites, who had their firft houfe on Wall Knoll, where 
was alfo an hofpital of Trinitarians, founded by William 
de ACton in 1361. The grammar-fchool at Weftgate was 
formerly the church of an hofpital of St. Mary, founded 
and endowed in the time of Henry II. Near this fpot 
ftood another hofpital, alfo dedicated to the Holy Virgin, 
which at the -fuppreffion maintained a mafter and fix bre¬ 
thren. An hofpital of St. Mary Magdalen was fituated 
between Vine-lane and Barras-bridge, where many vef- 
tiges of it are yet vifible. ilt was built and endowed 
by Henry I. for a mafter, brethren, and filters, who 
were bound to receive perfons afflicted with the le- 
profy. King James incorporated this hofpital, with the 
'chapel of St. Thomas a JBecket, on Tyne-bridge, and 
UPON TYNE. 
decreed that the revenues of both fnould in future be ap- 
propriated to the fupport of a warden, and three poor and 
aged unmarried burgeffes; and that the mayor and com¬ 
mon-council Ihould aCt in the capacity of patrons. On 
Sand-hills was an hofpital of St. Catharine, commonly 
called Thornton’s Hofpital, having been founded by Roger 
Thornton, in 1403, for a chaplain, wffio Ihould alfo be 
mafter, nine poor men, and four women. This houfe is 
now occupied as a warehoufe, and is the property of the 
mayor and burgeffes. Fordun, and fome other Scottilh 
•hiftorians, alfert that there was in this town a monaftery 
of Praemonftratenfians, founded by David king of Scot¬ 
land. An ancient houfe in Grindon Chare, traditionally 
called the Chapel of St. John, is fuppofed to have been 
their convent. On St. Lawrence’s Quay are the ruins of 
a chapel, in honour of St. Lawrence, which was ereCled 
by one of the earls of Northumberland; and near Barras- 
bridge are the remains of another, dedicated to St. James. 
There w’as alfo, before the dilfolution, a chapel or oratory 
in one of the towers of Newcaftle-bridge; and in another 
part of it a hermitage tenanted byareclufe. Clofe to one 
end of Tyne-bridge is the chapel of St. Thomas a Becket, 
the origin of which is unknown, though certainly built 
before the commencement of the thirteenth century. It 
has lately been fitted up as a chapel of eafe to the church 
of St. Nicholas. 
Newcaftle is a town of confiderable extent, and con¬ 
tains, according to the population-returns of 1811, 3146 
houfes, and 27,587 inhabitants. The higher parts of it, 
which are molt diftant from the river, difplay a number of 
wide and refpeCtable ftreets, but, in the lower parts, the 
ftreets and alleys are extremely narrow, dirty, and ill built. 
The fuburbs of Sand-gate, and the North-lhore, are chiefly 
inhabited by the keelmen, who amount to about feven or 
eight thoufand in number. 
The county of Newcaftle includes a diftridt of ten miles 
in circuit, and is entirely independent of Northumber¬ 
land. Within the town are four parilhes, the limits of 
which were diftinCtly marked out in 1220. All the 
churches and chapels are fubjeclto the mother-church of 
St. Nicholas. This edifice is much admired for the ele¬ 
gant architenure of its tower, which was built in the 
reign of Henry VI. and rifes to the height of 194 feet. 
The remainder of the ftraCture is of more ancient date, 
having been ereCted, in 1359, upon the fite of one ftill 
older, founded by Ofmund bifliop of Sarum, and burnt 
to the ground in 1216. In the library of this church are 
feveral curious manuferipts, and among them a highly- 
illuminated Bible, formerly belonging to Hexham-abbey. 
The other parifti-churches in Newcaftle are St. Andrew’s, 
St. John’s, and All Saints: the two firft were built in the 
thirteenth century, but the laft is of modern ereCtian, and 
may vie with any church in England in refpeCt of interior 
decoration. Befides thefe, there are feveral chapels at¬ 
tached to the eftabliftiment. Diffenting meeting-houfes 
are numerous, almoft every clafs of religionifts known in 
the ifland having one or more places in this town appro¬ 
priated to public worffiip. The moft frequent are thofe 
belonging to Prelbyterians in communion with the church 
of Scotland. The grammar-fchool, already noticed as 
occupying the premifes of St. Mary’s Hofpital, can rank 
among its pupils fome of the moft diftinguilhed characters 
of this and the laft century, feveral of whom were like- 
wife natives of the town. A charity-fchool is attached to 
each of the four churches, and a fifth to the chapel of 
St. Anne. Sunday-fchools are foarcely lefs numerous 
than the feveral places of. public worfliip; and, indepen¬ 
dent of all thefe, a large building has been lately ereCted 
for the eftabliftiment of a fchool on the Lancaftrian plan, 
where poor children of every feCt and denomination may 
be inftru.Cted in reading, writing, and arithmetic. This 
laft is called the Royal Jubilee School, and was built to 
-commemorate his majefty’s entry into the fiftieth year of 
his reign. Nor are the health and fupport of the poor lefs 
attended to in Newcaftle than their education. On the 
.3 weft 
