Darras Hall

Milecastle 10 (Walbottle Dene)

Walbottle · 3.1 miles

Roman milecastles marked the intervals along Hadrian’s Wall, and Milecastle 10 (Walbottle Dene) lies close to the modern village of Throckley in Tyne and Wear, with Walbottle identified as the nearest town. The structure occupies a position where the otherwise straight wall makes a 20-degree turn before crossing a valley and heading towards the Great Hill at Heddon-on-the-Wall. Although much of the milecastle is now beneath a road, a fragment of the north wall survives in the front garden of Dene House, where twelve foundation slabs and three stone blocks can be observed; some blocks bear an asterisk, pivot holes for a gate and a lewis-hole. The southern side appears only as a low mound about 0.4 m high in a field, and a short section of the ditch is also visible. The building measured 78 ft 2 in (23.83 m) north-to-south and 67 ft (20 m) east-to-west, with walls roughly 10 ft (3.0 m) wide. It is classified as a long-axis milecastle with Type IV gateways, a form thought to have been erected by the legion XX Valeria Victrix based at Deva Victrix (Chester). Excavations have taken place repeatedly: in 1864 the north and south gateways were uncovered, revealing a centurial stone now held by the Black Gate Museum; later work in 1928, 1966, 1979, 1988, 1999 and 2000 documented the surviving walls, flagstone surfacing and an oven, while noting considerable damage from ploughing. Two associated turrets were linked to the site. Turret 10A, situated 509 yards (465 m) west beneath the B6528 Hexham Road, shows no surface remains but was examined in 1930 and 1980, revealing three-foot-thick walls, a south-wall entrance and artefacts dated to before 140 AD, together with earlier Neolithic or Bronze-Age plough marks. Turret 10B remains unlocated, also presumed to lie under the same road, with only burnt wood fragments suggesting activity during the wall’s construction. No admission fee, opening hours or visitor facilities are recorded for the site.

Throckley Hall Grounds

Throckley · 3.1 miles

Private grounds of Throckley Hall Manor House.

Milecastle 9

Blucher · 3.7 miles

The remains of a Roman milecastle can be found in West Denton, a short distance west of Newcastle upon Tyne and about 300 yards (270 m) from Chapel House Farm. Known as Milecastle 9 (or Chapel House), the site survives mainly as a low platform; the northern section is now largely hidden beneath the A69/B6528 road network. The structure formed part of Hadrian’s Wall, erected in the early 2nd century AD under Emperor Hadrian to mark the northern frontier of Roman Britain. Built as a long-axis milecastle with a Type IV gateway – a variation of the broad-wall design – it is one of only three milecastles identified with this gateway type, the others being Milecastle 27 and possibly Milecastle 10. Internal dimensions were roughly 14.9 m wide by 18 m long, with gates about 2.7 m wide and side walls 0.8 m thick. Archaeological evidence suggests a small garrison of eight men, later expanded in the third century, and a post-hole hints at an earlier timber phase. Excavations have yielded a range of artefacts, including pottery from each phase of the Wall, coins of Tetricus I and Valentinian I, a gaming board, a sword-scabbard chape and a relief of a female figure. A Roman or post-Roman cist burial was discovered outside the south wall, containing several skeletal remains. The Military Way, a road running east–west, lay about 9.8 m to the south, though later field work found little trace of it. The site lies on cultivated land and shows signs of plough damage; English Heritage has noted that removal from cultivation would be needed to prevent further loss. The nearest settlement is the town of Blucher, and no visitor facilities or admission charges are recorded for the archaeological feature.

Gosforth Park Nature Reserve

North Gosforth · 6.8 miles

Extensive woodland, wet carr and reed-dominated wetlands provide breeding grounds for species such as reed warbler, water rail and reed bunting, while winter brings birds like bittern, kingfisher and shoveler. Aquatic mammals including otter, water vole and water shrew are recorded, and the site supports England’s second-largest colony of coralroot orchid. The semi-natural forest, chiefly oak and birch with some conifer plantings, hosts mammals such as badger, fox, roe deer, stoat and a remaining population of red squirrel, alongside a diverse invertebrate community that includes nationally rare beetles and solitary bees. A small meadow adds heather and northern marsh orchid to the botanical mix. The reserve lies within the historic Gosforth Park estate in Tyne and Wear, north-east of the Whitebridge Park housing estate and close to the former village of North Gosforth. Medieval ridge and furrow evidence points to its agricultural past; the Brandling family later landscaped the area, creating a lake between 1810 and 1820 and planting much of the woodland in the mid-19th century. After the estate was sold in the late 19th century, the Natural History Society of Northumbria acquired shooting rights in 1924 and assumed full management in 1929, maintaining the area for wildlife. Designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1977, the reserve remains privately owned by Arena Racing Company but is leased to the Society. Public entry is limited to Society members and visitors holding a day pass; non-members may purchase a pass on arrival. Dogs are not permitted, there are no public rights of way, and opening times are listed on the Society’s information page. Regular open days and educational activities for schools are organised by the Society.

Site of Kings Meadow Island

Teams · 6.8 miles

A former flat island once stretched across the River Tyne between Elswick on the north bank and Dunston on the south, close to Gateshead. In the 17th-century siege of Newcastle, Scottish sentries were stationed on the island and recorded at least one fatal shooting of a man attempting to pass. By the 18th century the site supported a public house called the Countess of Coventry, and it later hosted an annual regatta and horse racing programme until 1850, with occasional greyhound racing as well. Nearby, the smaller Little Annie island lay to the south-west and the Clarenee Islands were situated to the north of its eastern end. The island disappeared from the river surface after dredging work carried out by the Tyne Improvement Commission between 1862 and 1887, intended to improve navigation. Today the location is marked as the “Site of Kings Meadow Island”, classified as ruins, with the nearest town identified as Teams. No specific visitor facilities or admission charges are recorded for the ruin site. The name survives locally through Kingsmeadow Community Comprehensive School, which lies close to the former island’s position. Access routes, parking provisions or opening hours are not detailed in the available material.

The Response

Haymarket · 7.5 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.