Newcastle Gateshead See & do
Newcastle Gateshead is bulging with cutting edge artworks. The BALTIC Centre of Contemporary Art (www.balticmill.com/) is a once disused flour warehouse that has recently been renovated into a series of stunning art spaces, attracting some of the world’s best modern artists.
If you’re feeling flush the Biscuit Factory (www.thebiscuitfactory.com) is the largest commercial art space in the UK, with two floors of paintings, drawings, sculpture, glass and furniture. Both Newcastle Gateshead’s universities have small but superb galleries - The Hatton Gallery includes the world famous Merzbarn by Kurt Schwitters, while the Shipley Art Gallery has an outstanding collection of contemporary craftwork.
Dozens of public artworks are scattered around the city and surrounding area. For example, outside the Laing Art Gallery (www.twmuseums.org.uk/laing/ ) (itself a great gallery, newly restored and worth checking out for its fine collection of Pre-Raphaelites, L.S. Lowry and John Martin) is the Blue Carpet, a glistening flood of sparkling shards of blue glass ‘ripped open’ by benches and underground lighting and the Swirling Staircase, a bold spiral of chunky wood.
Drive out (or get the bus) to the Angel of the North, the largest sculpture in Britain. Designed by Anthony Gormley, this massive artwork stands guard over the approach to Newcastle Gateshead. Don’t forget to take your camera and get a picture of yourself sitting on the Angel’s feet.
History and Buildings
Newcastle Gateshead has a history stretching back to Roman times. Hadrian’s Wall runs through the centre of Newcastle and there’s still a fair chunk of it left, housed in a museum close to the site of the Tyne Swing Bridge.
Several stretches of Newcastle’s medieval wall are still standing. The best bits are close to Bath Lane, with several towers – including Morden Tower in Stowell Street – wedged in among later buildings.
If you’re in the area of Stowell Street then pop into Blackfriars, a former Dominican monastery built in the 13th century - it’s an oasis of calm in the bustle of the city centre. Another must-see building is Bessie Surtee’s massive black and white Jacobean townhouse down by the quayside. Bessie herself was a bit of a one, first making a fortune in trade then eloping with the future Lord Chancellor of England. Ah, colourful Olde England.
A whopping 40% of the elegant buildings in Grainger Town are listed, the highest concentration of listed buildings anywhere in the country outside Bath. Exploring Grainger Town is a must – just don’t forget to look up, as many of the best bits are overhead.
The Tyne bridges are world famous. The first was the High Level Bridge opened in 1849, followed by the Swing Bridge in 1876 and the world famous Tyne Bridge in 1928. The latest is the beautiful Gateshead Millennium Bridge (www.gateshead.gov.uk/bridge/bridged.htm ) linking Newcastle and Gateshead.
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