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| Tynemouth Castle and Priory |
Settlements and defences on the headland at the mouth of the river Tyne date back to the Iron Ages. The first monastery was established in the 8th century. It became the target for raiders, and was destroyed in 875. It was re-established 200 years later in 1083, a church dedicated to St Oswine and the Virgin Mary being built on the site.
The lands belonging to Tynemouth Priory generated economic prosperity and over the next 400 years the buildings of the Priory developed
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| Tynemouth Priory 1450 |
Records show the Priory was a defended from the Norman Period. The threat of border raids from Scotland and the usefulness of Tynemouth as a military base resulted in Edward I improving those defences. This resulted in the building of walls and towers. In 1390 the fortifications were further strengthened by Richard II including the building of a gatehouse.
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| Tynemouth Castle Keep and Walls |
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| Tynemouth Castle Gate House c 1400 |
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| Tynemouth Castle Gate House |
In 1534, Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Rome and established himself as the head of the Church of England. In 1536 Henry began the dissolution of the monasteries, appropriating their income and assets, and removing them as a power base. Tynemouth Priory was dissolved in 1539, it's lands and possessions handed to the King, and the monastery closed.
The Priory would eventually fall into ruin.
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| Tynemouth Priory Ruins |
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| Tynemouth Priory Ruins |
The Priory became a military base and used as a staging post for the billeting and supply of forces engaged in war with Scotland. In 1545 a fleet was assembled for the invasion of Scotland, and new fortifications were built at Tynemouth to defend the anchorage and the supply base. To dominate the mouth of the Tyne a new battery of cannon was built. It was known as the Spanish Battery, apparently named after the Spanish mercenaries who manned the fortifications.
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| Tynemouth Castle and Spanish Battery |
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| Tynemouth Castle and Spanish Battery |
During the English Civil War the Tynemouth Castle and the Spanish Batteries were heavily fortified and their guns controlled the river. Temporary forts were built near the Low Lights in North Shields and on the Lawe in South Shields. Newcastle and Tynemouth were one of the few Royalists ports and crucial in denying the Parliamentarians coal supplies.
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| Tynemouth English Civil War fortifications |
In July 1644 the defeat of Royalist forces by the Parliamentarians at Marston Moor in Yorkshire effectively cut off Royalists in the north of England. Scottish Covenanters forces allied to the Parliamentarians laid siege to Newcastle which fell in the October. Tynemouth followed, and the temporary forts were destroyed.
During the Second Anglo Dutch War (1665-1667) the Dutch fleet attacked the British fleet at anchor at Gillingham and Chatham, bombarding and capturing Sheerness before withdrawing. Concerned that the Dutch could affect the strategic coal trade between Newcastle and London, Charles II commissioned a new fort at the narrowest part of the entrance to the River Tyne. It was completed in 1672 and named after Thomas Clifford who became Lord Treasurer.
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| Cliffords Fort |
Cliffords Fort would be the mainstay of the defence of the Tyne for the next 200 years.
Tynemouth Castle as a military location declined, however in 1793 during the American Revolutionary War (1793-1802) it became an ordnance depot for ammuntion. This continued through the Napoleonic War (1803-1815). Gun platforms were built either side of the gatehouse to defend the castle on the landward side. The ordnance depot closed at the end of the Napoleonic War.
The 19th century saw significant economic growth on the Tyne. The shipment of coal and the building of ships turning the river into a major industrial area. Armstrong's armament factory at Elswick opened in 1847.
To provide better protection for shipping entering and leaving the Tyne, it was decided to build two piers, construction commencing in 1854.
Tensions in Europe led Prime Minister Lord Palmerston to state that France were uncontainable, could attack at will and invasion was inevitable. This led to a strengthening of UK coastal defences, notably the the building of Palmerston Forts on the south coast. Tynemouth Castle was reinforced with 20 guns, a new gun powder magazine and barracks built.
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| Tynemouth Castle Barracks |
As the piers began to enclose the mouth of the Tyne, Cliffords Fort started to become obselete and by 1881 it ceased to be a gun battery. The piers were completed in 1895.
It was not only the Tyne that was changing, but also the nature of naval warfare.
Along the Tyne at Armstrong's Armament factory rifled breach loading guns were being developed.
In 1860 the French launched the first ironclad warship, La Gloire , rendering the Smooth Bore Muzzle Loading (SBML) cannon obselete. Britain launched their first ironclad, HMS Warrior, a year later. This development would lead to the introduction of Rifle Muzzle Loading (RML) guns.
These developments would be rendered obselete in 1893 when the German Navy commissioned the first all steel warship, the SMS Brandenberg. Rifled breech loading guns were now the standard armaments. The first British all steel warship, HMS Majestic, was commissioned in 1895.
In 1899 a report on the state of coastal defences in the UK identified the importance of the river; "The object of the enemy approaching the Tyne would be to destroy the Elswick Works (which are at once the most important private ordnance factory and one of the most important dockyards in the kingdom) and also to destroy the Jarrow and other shipbuilding establishments. We do not consider therefore that this can be treated as merely a commercial port".
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| Threat to the Tyne from German Warships |
The threat and the obsolescence of the Tyne defences led to construction commencing on three modern batteries in 1899. The Castle Battery on the Tynemouth headland, new defences at the Spanish Battery, and a new battery on Frenchmans Point, South Shields. The construction of the batteries was completed in 1904.
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| Tyne Defences 1904 |
The batteries would be in service throughout World War One, though would not engage with the enemy.
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| Tynemouth 1917 |
In 1917, construction began on the Tyne Turrets (two battleship turrets mounting twin 12 inch guns) at Seaton Sluice and Marsden. To control these guns a tower was built in Tynemouth.
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| Tynemouth Percy Gardens Control Tower |
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| Tynemouth Control Tower |
The Tyne Turrets were commissioned in 1921, test fired in 1922, however by 1926 they were obselete and scrapped.
The control tower and the batteries at Tynemouth were once more on active service during the Second World War, again as in World War Two they did not engage the enemy.
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| Tynemouth Castle Battery 9.2inch gun WW2 |
The developments of jet aircraft and missiles during WW2 reduced the role of coastal artillery and in 1956 costal batteries throughout the UK were decommissioned.
