Bede Burn Centre

Bede Museum

Jarrow · 1.2 miles

Jarrow Hall is a museum in Jarrow, South Tyneside, England which celebrates the life of Bede; a monk, author and scholar who lived in at the Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Wearmouth-Jarrow, a double monastery at Jarrow and Monkwearmouth,, England.

Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum

The Lawe · 3.1 miles

A Roman fort stands on the Lawe Top overlooking the mouth of the River Tyne at South Shields, Tyne & Wear, a short distance from the town of The Lawe. Constructed in 129 AD, the site was intended to protect the sea-supply route to Hadrian’s Wall and the small port on the south side of the Tyne. Initially a small cohort fort, it was altered several times: a dividing wall created a northern store for ship-borne supplies and a southern garrison area, while later phases added a new principia, barracks and up to twenty-four granaries, indicating a role as the main supply base for the wall. The fort was finally abandoned around 400 AD after a fire and subsequent conversion of some granaries into barracks. The remains are presented as a museum operated by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and managed by North East Museums under the name Arbeia, South Shields Roman Fort. Visitors can view reconstructed sections such as the West Gate, rebuilt in 1986, and a collection of monuments that illustrate the cosmopolitan character of the garrison, including stones commemorating a British woman, Regina, and a former slave, Victor. The museum also displays an altarpiece to an unknown deity and a tablet bearing the name of Emperor Severus Alexander, deliberately erased in a practice known as damnatio memoriae. No modern buildings remain on the site following clearance in the 1970s.

Cliffords Fort

The Lawe · 3.7 miles

Clifford's Fort was a defensive gun battery established near the mouth of the Tyne during the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 17th century. It subsequently served as a submarine mining depot and survives today as a scheduled monument in the historic Fish Quay area of North Shields, Tyne and Wear, in North East England.

Jesmond Dene

Jesmond · 4.3 miles

A narrow, steep-sided valley carved by the Ouseburn river runs through the east end of Newcastle upon Tyne, forming the public park known as Jesmond Dene. The valley’s name, meaning “mouth of the Ouseburn”, reflects its geographical setting. Laid out in the 1860s by Lord Armstrong and his wife, the design intentionally mimics a rural landscape, incorporating woodland, crags, waterfalls and a series of pools. After Armstrong presented the park and his Banqueting Hall to the city in 1883, it opened to the public the following year and remains under the ownership of Newcastle City Council following its return to council control on 1 March 2025. Visitors can wander the wooded paths, view the ruins of St Mary’s Chapel – Newcastle’s oldest religious building – and cross the iron-constructed Armstrong Bridge, now closed to road traffic but used for the Jesmond Food Market on the first and third Saturday of each month. A free-entry petting zoo, Pets’ Corner, has attracted families since the 1960s, while the nearby Jesmond Dene House operates as a luxury hotel. The park benefits from the Friends of Jesmond Dene and Volunteer Rangers, who fund small improvements and maintain paths, shrubbery and litter. Recent developments include a 2011 redevelopment of the field area and Pets’ Corner, adding a new road and bridge over the Ouseburn, and the removal of graffiti from the Old Mill after a 2014 incident. Access is via the suburb of Jesmond, and admission to the park and its petting zoo is free.

Marsden Rock

Marsden · 5 miles

Located on the Tyne and Wear coast opposite the village of Marsden, the sea-stack known as Marsden Rock rises about 27 metres from the sea and is composed of Magnesian Limestone. The formation sits roughly 91 metres off the main cliff line and is classed as a bare rock landmark on the OpenStreetMap database. Originally a single stack with a natural arch, the arch gave way during the winter of 1996, splitting the feature into two. The smaller column, judged unsafe, was removed by the National Trust in 1997, leaving the present 90-foot stack that can be approached on foot at low tide, though it is completely surrounded by water when the tide comes in. The surrounding cliffs provide a vital breeding habitat for a range of seabirds, including kittiwakes, herring gulls and razorbills, which often perch on the rock itself. Cormorants have been present since the 1960s, and occasional winter visitors such as peregrine falcons and snow buntings have been recorded. No admission charge applies, and there are no visitor facilities on the rock or the immediate shoreline. Access is via the coastal path near Marsden Grotto, with the tide schedule the only practical consideration for those wishing to reach the stack on foot.

The Response

Haymarket · 5 miles

Set within the public gardens north of St Thomas the Martyr church and to the west of the Civic Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, The Response 1914 occupies a visible spot near the Haymarket district. The monument rests on a substantial Shap granite base that rises in three steps to a rusticated plinth and a screen wall. A large black bronze group, cast at the Thames Ditton Foundry, measures about three metres in height and ten metres across and portrays a crowd of figures – two young drummers, men parting from loved ones, and an allegorical angel sounding a trumpet. On the reverse side of the stonework, a carving of St George is flanked by two soldiers, one representing the regiment’s founding in 1674 and the other its First World War service. Commissioned by Sir George Renwick, 1st Baronet, and executed by sculptor Sir William Goscombe John, the work was presented to the city on 5 July 1923 in a ceremony that included the Prince of Wales. It commemorates the Territorial Army “Pals” battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers raised in 1914 – the “Commercials” – as well as the safe return of Renwick’s five sons and his half-century of ship-owning activity. Latin inscriptions on the front read “Non sibi sed patriae” followed by the title, while the rear bears the Fusiliers’ motto “Quo fata vocant” and a dedication to the battalions raised by the Newcastle and Gateshead Chamber of Commerce. The monument received listed status in 1971, was upgraded to Grade I in October 2014, and after restoration was rededicated on 25 October 2007 in the presence of Prince Philip.