Grainger Town

Grainger Town is the historic heart of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Incorporating classical streets built by Richard Grainger, a builder and developer, between 1824 and 1841, some of Newcastle upon Tyne's finest buildings and streets lie within the Grainger Town area of the City centre including Grainger Market, Theatre Royal, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street. These buildings are predominantly four storeys, with vertical dormers, domes, turrets and spikes. Grey Street holds onto much of its Victorian elegance and beauty, the best example of this is the Theatre Royal that stands half way down the street. Other streets around the area ended up making way for more modern housing in the 1960’s and 70’s as the population was increasing. Eldon Square was once a classic example of Victorian balance is now a shopping centre, not all was lost in the rebuild as Grainger Market (Monday – Saturday 8:00am – 5:00pm) near Grey’s Monument and is Europe’s largest undercover marketplace, built way back in the 1830’s it still maintains its style and boasts the chirpy sounds of an outdoor market. Behind Gallowgate lies the most complete stretch of the old city walls that lead all the way down to Westgate Road, these walls once encircled the whole of medieval Newcastle and they were later savaged after the sixteenth century for building stones to build new buildings from. Several towers still remain standing today such as Morden Tower that sits on Stowell Street the same street that Newcastle’s Chinatown is present with many supermarkets and restaurants. Across the street from the Morden Tower is the tranquil courtyard of Blackfriars, a thirteenth century stone monastery.

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