Gazetteer of
British Place Names

Tynemouth Castle is a moated castle and gatehouse with the ruins of a Benedictine priory in Northumberland. It sits on a headland called Pan Ball Crag at Tynemouth. There are four separate elements to the site with the priory being the earliest part. The castle was built afterwards, followed much later by an army barracks. Finally, a coastguard station was built in 1980, which remained in use until 2001. It is within the council area of North Tyneside. More...
Historic England Scheduled Monument 1015519.

Place Type: Mediæval Castle
Historic County: Northumberland
Lat, Long: 55.017882,-1.4184236
Grid Reference: NZ 3728 6941
Council Area: North Tyneside CA
Strategic Authority Area: North East SA
Police Area: Northumbria PA

GBPN ID: 46578
Entry Type: Main listing (P)
URL: https://gazetteer.org.uk/place/Tynemouth_Castle,_Northumberland_46578

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The priory was founded by Edwin of Northumbria in the 7th century. It was suppressed in 1538 by Henry VIII who took over the lands attached to the priory and monastic buildings were dismantled. The castle was built in 1095 and with the addition of several towers and upgrades over the centuries, it was described as one of the largest and strongest fortresses in the border region. The castle's role declined from 1672 when Clifford's Fort was built on the riverside but guns were emplaced there during successive invasion scares during British involvement in the French Revolutionary War (1793–1802) and the Napoleonic War (1803–15).

Tynemouth’s defences were improved in the second half of the 19th century and the castle was used as an army barracks with several new buildings being added. Then during the First and Second World Wars of the 20th century, the site's defence capacity was improved further to protect the River Tyne and its ports.

By 1945, the headland was filled with military buildings, many of which were used until 1956 when the army finally left. Afterwards, the site was purged of many military structures in order to display the priory and castle remains as a historic monument, leaving only the Warrant Officer’s House and the gun emplacements along the cliff edge as evidence of its 20th-century role.