For notes on the making of Newcastle Arts Centre - click here
A brief history of the
buildings now owned by Newcastle Arts
Centre. Westgate Road was named after the
"West Gate" in the city walls. It is the oldest named street
in Newcastle and runs along the course of Hadrian's
Wall. Indeed the Arts Centre itself stands on the site
of a Roman Milecastle. Since Roman times, the road
has played a vital part in the history and development of
the city. The fortunes and functions of the street have
varied widely, ranging from "a street more retired
than any other in the town, there being no artificers or
mechanics" (Bourne 1736) to a "centre of
business and commercial enterprise" by the late
nineteenth century. In recent years many long-neglected
buildings have been restored, and the historical importance
and quality of this area is once more being
appreciated. In its heyday, Westgate was a street
of wealthy merchants' houses standing in orchards and
gardens. It has also been a centre for merchants and craft
guilds, recreation and entertainment, with Taverns,
Theatres and Assembly Rooms. The transition of
Newcastle from a feudal medieval town to a pioneering
industrial city all happened around Westgate Road with the
Castle, the Cathedral, the Parish Church of
St. Johns, the Assembly Rooms, Stephensons'
Locomotive Works and the Literary and Philosophical
Society all within sight of each other. The "West End" is today an
increasingly creative leisure and recreation area of the
city where the arts, crafts and entertainment flourish side
by side.
67 to 75 Westgate
Road Newcastle Arts Centre is housed in a
block of listed buildings near the Central Station.
The Company has re-established shops, offices and workshops,
and built an Arts Centre from a derelict section of Westgate
Road. The buildings consist of 18th Century merchants houses
and later property that is bordered on Westgate Road by the
line of Hadrian's Wall and on Pink Lane by the line
of the City Wall. Number 67 Westgate Road was the 18th
Century home of Lord Ridley's family, the ground
floor of which was later converted into a shop. Behind this,
Woolf's Store was built in 1912, and this elegant
arcade which parallels Forth Lane, a route between Westgate
Road and Pink Lane is the main exhibition space of the Arts
Centre. The large basement of number 67
Westgate Road provides a venue for live music, theatre
performance, video projection and meetings, accommodating up
to 200 people. Above this, the main exhibition space
exhibits both the Visual and Applied Arts, with an
emphasis of showing the work of artists living in this
region. In addition, the Centre has established an
Exhibition Production Workshop, an Audio
Studio, and a Ceramics Workshop. Behind numbers 69 to 75 Westgate Road
there was once a courtyard known as Pearson's Court
which has since been built over. The overbuilding has been
removed to make Black Swan Court as a part of the
Arts Centre. Shops and offices on Westgate Road have been
restored and improved, and at the back of the courtyard the
buildings have been converted into studios and workshops for
artists and craft workers. During 1982-84 the foundations of
a Roman Milecastle and several abandoned wells were
excavated by our staff and a large find of medieval
pottery was recovered. Archeologist Jenny Vaughan is
currently preparing a report for the Society of Antiquaries
on the pottery. University Chambers 67
Westgate Road Although only known as "University
Chambers" during the first half of the twentieth
century, 67 Westgate Road, the oldest building within the
Arts Centre complex, was for over 400 years owned by
University College Oxford, during which time it was
leased to various people. It is very likely that the land
itself was part of a number of deeds presented to the
University in 1447 by Alice Bellasis, the daughter of
Sir Robert Hansard,..."in consideration of
masses to be said... for her soul after her death and for
the souls of her kinfolk." Before being occupied by the most
famous of its residents, the Ridley Family, the land,
on which at the time stood two houses, was leased in 1693 by
William Metcalfe. A member of the Company of
Hostmen, which under a charter granted by Elizabeth
the First held a virtual monopoly over the coal industry
of the area, he was made a Freeman of Newcastle on the 20th
May 1698, the same day on which Matthew White, the
future father-in-law of Sir Matthew White Ridley,
also became a Freeman of the town. It was William Metcalfe
who almost certainly converted the original two houses into
a single property, forming the basis for the building as it
stands today. The current house is in a style that dates it
to about 1725. Leased from University College by Sir
Matthew Ridley, 67 Westgate Road was to become the Newcastle
residence of the Ridley family for approximately 100 years,
and therefore the hub of political and commercial life in
the centre of Newcastle. From Matthew Ridley, who became
Mayor of Newcastle in 1733 at the age of 21, via Sir
Matthew White Ridley I and Sir Matthew White Ridley II,
there was formed a dynasty which saw 100 years as
Governor of the Merchant Adventurers, 89 consecutive
years of Newcastle parliamentary representation and 7 terms
of office as Mayor. Grandfather, Father and Son were
also all involved in the formation and command of various
civil defense forces, from the "White stocking
regiment" of 1740 to the "Loyal Association of
Newcastle Voluntary Infantry" which was formed in 1798
and disbanded in 1813. Extending their influence over
Newcastle life even further, Sir M.W.Ridley I was a major
partner in the bank of Ridley, Cookson and Co. which
was known as "The Old Bank". On his death, his son continued
the family influence within the Bank. The famous engraver, Thomas
Bewick, was employed by Ridley and Cookson to make the
plates for their banknotes. Cookson, who also owned property
in Westgate Street, employed Beilby to engrave his
finest glass. But, as with all powerful families, in
the true tradition of soap operas, there were the inevitable
scandals. Sir Matthew Ridley was married twice, in itself
not scandalous even in the early 18th century, but curiously
his first wife Hannah Barnes was never acknowledged
as his wife during her lifetime. More fuel is added to the
fire by the fact that on her death in 1741 her brother
published "an angry account of her sufferings".
His son Sir M.W. Ridley I surpassed his father when in 1798,
( the same year he survived a run on the Ridley, Cookson and
Co. Bank), he was charged and found guilty by a jury of his
peers of "Criminal Conversation" with another mans
wife, a euphemism for adultery. The husband of the
"licentious, wanton woman" received £400
damages, a sum which would be expressed in tens of thousands
in todays terms. Even so, the social standing of the family
was not affected, a fact which may have been aided by the
lack of publicity given to the case in the local newspaper
of the time. Although Westgate Road was almost
totally composed of the residences of "the important
and well to do" we find rather unusually that the
neighbours of the Ridley family for over fifty years, from
approximately 1780 until 1830, were Coachbuilders.
This was actually at 71 Westgate Road (69 did not exist at
that time) and the workshops were within the courtyard of
the present Arts Centre. The original proprietors were the
Brewster family and they were followed by the
Wilkinson brothers, William and Edward. It would
appear that both families were of "good" if not important
social standing, John Brewster being a warden of All
Saints Church and his sister Ann married Nathaniel
Surgeon, who actually was a surgeon. Oliver's survey of
1830 shows 75 Westgate Road as the property of Mrs. Ann
Surgeon. The Wilkinson brothers went on to merge with
Angus, at which time c.1831, they moved to the Bigg
Market. They were at that time one of, if not, the
leading coachbuilders in Newcastle, the Angus family being
one of noted landowners and gentility. The court became known as Pearson's
Court in the early 1800's when 71 Westgate Road became
the property of Robert and Elizabeth Pearson,
although they themselves lived at 73 Westgate Road which for
a number of years was owned by Isaac Cookson. Robert
Pearson was a Tea-dealer and Dry-salter who,
if Oliver's Survey is accurate, also owned in 1830 all of
the tenements in the court, therefore making him a wealthy
man. The end of the Napoleonic Wars were celebrated
with famous illuminations of 1000 lamps decorating the
outside of his home. He died in 1836, the same year as
Sir M.W.Ridley II. The courtyard also housed a number of
tenements which were run as lodging houses. The first
mention of these appears in 1827 but it is almost certain
that they existed a number of years previously. The number
of occupants of the court peaked in the 1850's with the 1851
census showing 100 men, women, and children in lodgings
within Pearson's Court. Occupations of the lodgers covered
Labourers, Shoemakers, Stonemasons,
Bakers, Engine Fitters and Pipemakers,
as well as others. It was in the early 1840's when the
character of this area of Westgate Road began to slowly
change. Although it remained as predominately private
residences for another 30 years, the occupants were more
often than not involved in trades, such as the
Teasdale, Moffat and Lockerby families
of Drapers, who occupied 71, 73 and 75 at various
times during that period. By 1841 the Ridleys had also moved
out of 67 to be replaced by a Boys' Boarding School
run by Thomas Fairweather although he was only to
remain there for just over 10 years, when the most obvious
pointer to the change in character of the area occurred with
67 Westgate Road becoming the offices and warehouses of
W.H.Holmes Glassmerchants. Although there would appear to be no
definite record of when 69 Westgate Road was built, it is
first listed in the directories in 1858. It is noticeable
how the courtyard and coach access obviously influenced the
type of occupant. J.Kyle (builder) was the first of
these, from 1858 until the late 1860's, when he was replaced
by Atkinson & Co. ale stores, and then Johnson
& Co. wine merchants. By the 1880's the change from
residential to commercial was complete, with the tenements
in Pearson's Court now being converted into
warehouses, predominantly by W.H.Holmes, whilst 71, 73 and
75 now all housed offices and shops. The firm of W.H.Holmes
was to remain on the premises until the outbreak of World
War Two, a period of approximately 85 years. New commercial occupants made some
structural alteration to the site. In 1912 Woolf's
Department Stores erected an early concrete and steel
building in the former gardens of No. 67. This forms the
main public area of the Arts Centre, housing Performance
and Exhibition spaces. The 1920's brought to the block, now
known as the Arts Centre, occupants who mirrored the growth
of the entertainment industry, especially the movies. The
Ideal Film Renting Co. Western Import Co. (Films),
Butchers Film Services, Andersons Variety
Agents, and Theatre Equipment Co. Ltd, all appear
during this decade. There was also British Screen
Productions for a period of time at 55 Westgate Road.
Yet it is a reflection of the times that by early 1930's,
with the onset of the depression years, all had departed. By
comparison, a large number of the other occupants such as
Woolf & Co. (Picture framers), W.H.Holmes,
Quin S & Son (Bedding Manufacturers),
Anglo-Scottish Rubber, Crosby & Sons
(Confectioners), W.F.Hamilton (Insurance),
Drybroughs (Brewers) and Williamson, Inglis &
Parks (Drapers) all survived the depression. In fact
Woolf & Co. and Quin S & Son both continued well
into the late 1960's. In 1935 Quin S & Sons considerably
altered 69-75 by building over the courtyard, and
substantially rebuilding and extending the structures at the
rear of the courtyard as showrooms and warehousing. In 1981,
Newcastle Arts Centre Ltd. acquired the property once
owned by Woolf's store and Quin S & Sons, and dismantled
most of the 1935 constructions to restore and remodel the
courtyard. When Newcastle Arts Centre acquired the site, the
courtyard had been lost under overbuilding and one aim of
the reconstruction was to refocus the activity of the site
around the courtyard. This was renamed Black Swan
Court, after an ale house originally at 69 Westgate
Street. But, although we have chosen to name our bar and
courtyard after a long lost nineteenth century bar, we did
not account for the fact that the street was renumbered in
the 1860's, and the original Black Swan was in fact next
door to the Literary and Philosophical
Society. From 1982 until 2000 the home of
Newcastle Arts Centre's office, `details' art
material's store and picture framing department.
Illustration of ' the
Assembly House' on the Corbridge map of 1721 showing the
building prior to modernisation during the 18th
Century This drawing shows the proposed restoration of
the 1770's south elevation that was hidden when
Walkers Factory was built in the Courtyard .
Originally the view from the splendid Venetian
window would have been across a large courtyard and
garden to the City walls and the rural Tyne valley.
This Georgian elevation will be restored with the
interior. The attempt to modernize Newcastle in
the 1960's with a massive redevelopment plan that stalled
with the property crash of 1974, placed much of Westgate
Road under severe planning blight which, together with the
building of Eldon Square Shopping Centre, moved the
focus of the City north. The result was a period of rapid
decline and the accidental preservation of many historic
buildings which are now regarded as a valuable
heritage. However the 1990's saw the area as a
focus for inner city restoration and development, with a
potentially prosperous future. John Mears, Susan Maughan and Mike
Tilley. Copyright 1996 Newcastle Arts Centre. Updated
2005 John Brand who lived somewhere in Westgate Street in 1776
from where he published a reprint of some of Bourne's
work
Autumn
2008 rear of 55 late September
2008 Internally main stairway No. 55 see
outside above
Newcastle Arts
Centre
Brand's two volumes - Newcastle upon Tyne published in
London 1789
'Men of Mark twixt Tweed and Tees' R.Welford Vols. one &
three
Archaelogia Aeliana 3rd series Vol.9 page 25 for Sir William
Creag. The first Newcastle Directory 1778.
Mackenzie's history of Newcastle 1827, Charleton's Newcastle
on Tyne. The Newcastle Plan 1945. The Corbridge Map 1721
T.Oliver's Surveys 1830, 1844 and various Trade
Directories.
