Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Newcastle upon Tyne. You may be able to find further references to Newcastle upon Tyne in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
All Saints parish and township Bartholomew
JOHN-NEWCASTLE (ST.) a parish Imperial
Newcastle upon Tyne parliamentary and municipal borough Bartholomew
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE a town, four parishes, and a district Imperial
Newcastle upon Tyne, All Saints, St Andrew, St John, and St Nicholas Bartholomew

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Newcastle upon Tyne.

Place Type of entry Source
Benwell township Bartholomew
BENWELL a township and a chapelry Imperial
CRAMLINGTON a chapelry Imperial
RIDING a township Imperial
SEGHILL, or Sedgehill a village and a township Imperial
Westgate township Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Newcastle upon Tyne within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 9: Eastern Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland 9
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Carlisle to Newcastle 9
Charles Wesley Sept. 2 - Dec. 30, 1745: Yorkshire and Durham 8
John Wesley 1743: Wesley Refused Sacraments at Epworth; Cornwall and the Scilly Isles 7
Charles Wesley May 17 - Aug. 28, 1743: Bristol to Newcastle, then Cornwall 6
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 3: Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 6
John Wesley 1744-5: First Methodist Conference; Pressgangs and Mobs 6
John Wesley 1751-3: Wesley's Marriage; Cornwall Smugglers; Illness and Recovery 6
Thomas Pennant July 4-17: Scarborough to Berwick upon Tweed 6
William Camden Northumberland 5
Charles Wesley Jan. 1 - Apr. 30, 1744: London to Newcastle 5
Charles Wesley Jan. 1 - Aug. 26, 1751: London to Bristol and the north 5
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 2: Glasgow and central Scotland 5
George Head Newcastle upon Tyne 5
Feargus O'Connor O'Connor's tour of Scotland, January 1839 5
William Camden Durham, Lancashire and Westmorland 4
Charles Wesley Sept. 2 - Dec. 31, 1746: The Midlands and the North-East 4
John Wesley 1746-8: Severe Weather; Ireland; Wesley's Protest against Lawlessness 4
John Wesley 1763-4: In Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; "No Law for Methodists"; Exhausting Days 4
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 2: The City 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 4: Leeds and North Yorkshire 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 10: Lancashire, Westmorland and Cumberland 3
Thomas Pennant September 18-23: The Borders and back to Cheshire 3
James Boswell October 9th to 16th, 1773: Mull 2
James Boswell November 8th to 22nd, 1773: Back to Edinburgh 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 2: Harwich and Suffolk 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 2: Canterbury and Sussex 2
Robert Gammage Travelling in the north in 1842 2
Robert Gammage Ayrshire and Renfrewshire 2
Robert Gammage Hampshire, Lancashire, and final reflections 2
John Wesley 1740-2: Preaching Incidents; Wesley's Labor Colony; Dispute with Whitefield 2
John Wesley 1749-50: Wesley and the Soldiers; In Ireland and Wales Again; Wesley Burned in Effigy 2
John Wesley 1754-6: Retirement in Paddington; Wesley Slandered; Premonitions 2
John Wesley 1757-9: "I do Indeed Live by Preaching"; Advice to Travelers; French Prisoners 2
Thomas Pennant Appendix VIII: Itinerary 2
James Boswell Introduction 1
James Boswell August 21st to 23rd, 1773: Montrose to Aberdeen 1
William Camden Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex 1
William Cobbett Aug. 5th to 10th, 1823: Hampshire and Surrey 1
Charles Wesley May 1 - Aug. 31, 1748: London, Wales and Ireland 1
Charles Wesley July 8 - Aug. 13, 1754: Norfolk 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 1: Kent Coast and Maidstone 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 1: The Trent Valley 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 11: South-Eastern Scotland 1
Celia Fiennes Wiltshire and Dorset 1
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: Hull to Chatsworth 1
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Durham to Shropshire 1
Robert Gammage Touring central Scotland 1
George Head Introduction 1
George Head Selby and Goole 1
George Head Hull 1
George Head East Riding 1
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 1
John Wesley 1774-6: Wesley Arrested; A Terrible Ride; A Methodist Isaac Newton; the American War 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Jesmond 0 2
Shieldfield 0 1
Fenham 0 2
Westgate 0 2
High Elswick 0 1
Heaton 0 2
Elswick 0 2
Benwell 0 2
South Gosforth 0 1
Gosforth 1 2
Byker 0 2
Coxlodge 0 2
Tyne 5 2
Low Team 0 1
Dunston 0 4
Kenton 0 2
Little Benton 0 2
Walker 0 2
Gateshead 13 2
Fawdon 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Newcastle upon Tyne. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
ALL SAINTS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
JOHN NEWCASTLE ST John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
MONK CHESTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
NEWCASSEL Robert Gammage 'Recollections of a Chartist', in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1883-5).
NEW CASTLE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
NEWCASTLE James Boswell The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (Oxford, Mississippi, 2004).
William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
William Cobbett Rural Rides (Letchworth: Temple Press, 1932).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
Robert Gammage 'Recollections of a Chartist', in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1883-5).
George Head A Home Tour through the Manufacturing Districts of England in the Summer of 1835 (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1836).
Feargus O'Connor Tour of the North in the Northern Star (Leeds, 1839).
Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
Charles Wesley The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1849).
John Wesley The Journal of John Wesley (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2000).
NEWCASTLE ON TYNE Robert Gammage 'Recollections of a Chartist', in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1883-5).
NEWCASTLE ON Y<SUP>E</SUP> TYNE Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
NEW CASTLE UPON TYNE Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE ALL SAINTS ST ANDREW ST JOHN AND ST NICHOLAS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
PONS AELII Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
PONS FLII John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ST JOHN NEWCASTLE John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.