Like the main character in my story, Alex Shaftoe, I have a passion for history. As I have already said on my Facebook page, the story of ‘Blackfriars Gate’ begins with a bag from Morocco and the fact the dye on it wasn’t fastened. I ended up going through the courtyard at Blackfriars on my way to buy dye fastener for the bag. Although I had been regularly in Newcastle’s Chinatown over the years, I had never ventured into Blackfriars courtyard. I always entered Chinatown from the other end of Stowell Street to Blackfriars and left the same way.
As part of the research for ‘Blackfriars Gate’ I looked into the history of Blackfriar monasteries and discovered that most of them had been built in the thirteenth century, were in an urban context and existed in most important cities in the medieval period. But many of these monasteries are now just memories remembered in place names – Blackfriars in London is a case in point. The monastery there was destroyed in the ‘Great Fire of London’. Many of these monasteries fell into disuse or reuse after the reformation by Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries.
What I did learn was that Dominicans (Blackfriars) were forbidden from owning buildings or land, but property could be held in trust for them. The Dominican friary in Newcastle was founded by a wealthy merchant, Sir Peter Scott in 1239. During the disssoultion of the monasteries in 1539 the land was sold to the Corporation in Newcastle and to rich merchants. The church, sacristry and eastern half of the chapter house were demolished. The convent at Blackfriars was sold to the mayor who then leased in in 1552 to nine of the city’s craft guilds. The seems to be the reason why the building survives and it is close to one of the most intact sections of the medieval city walls in Newcastle. It seems that only the Blackfriars in Gloucester is in better condition than the Blackfriars in Newcastle and it is run by English Heritage.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the building was neglected and fell into a bad state of repair. Newcastle Corporation bought the property in the 1950s and between 1973 and 1981 the buildings were restored.
Like many cities in the UK, Newcastle has its fair share of ghost stories and the Keep of the ‘Newcastle’ is allegedly very haunted. But the story which attracted me most was that of Joseph, the monk who liked to dance in life and started to haunt the dance floor of the Dolce Vita night club in Newcastle (now closed) so he could boogie in death. He fitted the bill nicely for a short appearance in my story. The Dolce Vita was located on Low Frairs Street, not far from Joseph’s grave. Perhaps he was one of the Blackfriars in medieval Newcastle?
Blackfriars Gate is available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Blackfriars+Gate&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Like the main character in my story, Alex Shaftoe, I have a passion for history. As I have already said on my Facebook page, the story of ‘Blackfriars Gate’ begins with a bag from Morocco and the fact the dye on it wasn’t fastened. I ended up going through the courtyard at Blackfriars on my way to buy dye fastener for the bag. Although I had been regularly in Newcastle’s Chinatown over the years, I had never ventured into Blackfriars courtyard. I always entered Chinatown from the other end of Stowell Street to Blackfriars and left the same way.
As part of the research for ‘Blackfriars Gate’ I looked into the history of Blackfriar monasteries and discovered that most of them had been built in the thirteenth century, were in an urban context and existed in most important cities in the medieval period. But many of these monasteries are now just memories remembered in place names – Blackfriars in London is a case in point. The monastery there was destroyed in the ‘Great Fire of London’. Many of these monasteries fell into disuse or reuse after the reformation by Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries.
What I did learn was that Dominicans (Blackfriars) were forbidden from owning buildings or land, but property could be held in trust for them. The Dominican friary in Newcastle was founded by a wealthy merchant, Sir Peter Scott in 1239. During the disssoultion of the monasteries in 1539 the land was sold to the Corporation in Newcastle and to rich merchants. The church, sacristry and eastern half of the chapter house were demolished. The convent at Blackfriars was sold to the mayor who then leased in in 1552 to nine of the city’s craft guilds. The seems to be the reason why the building survives and it is close to one of the most intact sections of the medieval city walls in Newcastle. It seems that only the Blackfriars in Gloucester is in better condition than the Blackfriars in Newcastle and it is run by English Heritage.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the building was neglected and fell into a bad state of repair. Newcastle Corporation bought the property in the 1950s and between 1973 and 1981 the buildings were restored.
Like many cities in the UK, Newcastle has its fair share of ghost stories and the Keep of the ‘Newcastle’ is allegedly very haunted. But the story which attracted me most was that of Joseph, the monk who liked to dance in life and started to haunt the dance floor of the Dolce Vita night club in Newcastle (now closed) so he could boogie in death. He fitted the bill nicely for a short appearance in my story. The Dolce Vita was located on Low Frairs Street, not far from Joseph’s grave. Perhaps he was one of the Blackfriars in medieval Newcastle?
Blackfriars Gate is available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Blackfriars+Gate&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
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