308 
town, together with a fhort account of its 
public buildings, infitutions, &c. 
The fituation of modern Newcaftle has 
probably been determined by its bridge, 
which, having been originally built by the 
Romans at this termination of their great 
north-cafern road, has been, from time 
to time, renewed upon the fame {fcite. 
‘This warlike people teem to have preferred 
pafiing over the tops of hills, probably for 
the fake of ftations, from which to over- 
look and keep in devotion the furrounding 
country. But the objeéts to be an{wered 
by a military nation are very different from 
thofe of a commercial One, which are beft 
promoted by the eafe and expedition with 
which goods and paflengers can be con- 
veyed from one part of a country to an- 
other. The great obfruétion to this free 
communication, and the enormous need- 
lefs wafte of the powers of that noble ani- 
mal on whofe exertions we chiefly depend 
in tirefe refpeéts, occafioned by the fervi- 
lity with which we ftill continue to follow 
the traé& of our predeceffors over the 
elevated barren ridge of Gatefhead Fell, 
is,a fource of daily mortification to the 
travellers upon this road. More efpecially 
when the view of that fingular edifice 
Jate'y built for a patent fhot-tower at th 
white lead-works a few hundred yards 
above the bridge, which prefents itfelf to 
the paffenger about two miles north of 
Chefter le ftreet, cannot fail to convince 
him of the eate with which a perfely 
Jevel road might be carried in a ftraight 
line frem that point to the weftern extre- 
mity of the town. The noble profpeét up 
the Vale of Tyne, which regales the eye 
of the traveller.as he defcends towards the 
town fiom the fummit of the ridge, may 
perhaps be pleaded as fome compenfation 
for the trouble of its afcent. 
After the Romans had retired from Bri- 
tain, it appears that the works which they 
had here conftructed were at leat fo far 
maintained as to continue it a place of 
confiderable ftrength; and that fo many 
religious fratermities in the later Saxon 
times bad found in it a fecure fhelter, that 
it acquired gradually the name of Monk- 
chefter, by which appellation it was 
known till the building of its caftle by 
William Rufus or his brother Robert, 
fince which time tt has been diftinguifhed 
by its prefent name. Under the protec- 
tion cf this fortrels, and of the walls with 
which it was foon after furrounded, and 
encouraged by the many commercial pri- 
vileges granted to it, and its peculiar mi- 
neral advantages, its burgeffes rapidly ine 
creaicd in numbers and opulence. — 
Account of Newcafile upon Fyne. 
But whatever caufes may have deter- 
mined the fituation of Newcattle, and - 
however well chofen it may once have been 
for the purpofes of fecurity, it muft. be 
acknowledged to be fingularly ill adapted - 
to anfwer thofe of neatnefs or conve 
nience. To the ftranger who arrives from 
the fouth, after he has been aftonifhed, 
and in fome degree terrified, by his rapid 
defcent through Gatefhead (now indeed © 
confiderably mitigated by the circuitous, 
direction of the new ftreet), immediately . 
on his-turning upon the bridge a preci- 
pitous eminence prefents itfelf, which ex- 
tends along the river weftward to the ex~ 
tremity of the town, leaving only room 
for a narrow fireet, very properly deno, 
minated The Clofe; but cluftered ai! the 
way to the very f{ummit of its almoft per-_ 
pendicular banks, with houfes- built during 
the turbulent times which preceded the 
Union of the Crowns, when the inhabi- 
tants naturally crowded as clofe as poffi- 
ble under the protection of the caftle. 
Amidft thefe houfes an afcent is gained to 
the Cafile yard and its precinéts by feve- 
ral lofty flights of ftairs. This eminence 
terminates exaétly in front of the bridge, 
which was formerly defended by a half- 
moon battery, an outwork from the Caftle, 
placed upon its fummit ; but this is now 
Joaded with an unfightly mafs of mifera- 
ble tenements, five ftories high, which 
feems to threaten deftruétion to. the houfes 
and ftreet below. The eaftern and north- 
eaftern fides of the e Mount are in 
like manner crowded ‘with buildings, - 
which being all the way ftuck clofe one 
above another to the very gate of the 
Caftle, have obtained, from this circum- 
ftance, the appropriate name of The Side. 
The eaftern parts of the town were fe- 
parated from the Clofe and Side by a deep 
ravine, formed by a {mall brook er rivu- 
Jet, which falls into the river a little below 
the bridge. The lower part of this dea 
or burn (for both thefe provincial terms 
are applied to it) muft have been arched 
over for feveral centuries, at leaft as long 
fince as the open market-place, called the 
Sand-hill, has been embanked’ from the 
river, and enclofed with buildings. The 
upper part was left in its original ftate till 
about fifteen years ago, when the courfe ~ 
of its channel was judicioufly chefen to 
form a paflace through the town, on which 
paffengers fhould not be lable to the in- 
convenience of afcending either the weftern 
bank, through a narrow winding paflage 
in the Side, or the eaftern (fhortly to be 
mentioned) by a fimilar ftrait and fleep 
approach. If the ingenious projector had 
been 
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