The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer; Vol. 4, July-Dec 1884Various
History
The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer; Vol. 4, July-Dec 1884
Various
Archaeology -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Periodicals
The company were subsequently received in the lecture-room of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle by the members of the
local Society of Antiquarians, whose president, the Earl of Ravensworth,
addressed to them a brief speech, greeting their arrival, and promising
them a wide field of interesting research on either side of the Tyne.
Whether they went along the Roman wall westwards, to Holy Island and
Lindisfarne northwards, or southwards to Durham, or eastward to
Tynemouth--in every direction they would see traces of late Rome during
Christianity. He ended by saying that he admired the study of
archæology, for it made an old man young again, and made a young man old
by increasing his field of observation and experience. In the afternoon
the members of the two societies met together at the Black Gate of the
Castle, from whence they proceeded, under the guidance of Mr. W. H.
Longstaffe, to inspect the remains of the castle, the new cathedral (St.
Nicholas Church), the remains of the old city walls, the Trinity House,
the Old Exchange, in which the Company of Merchant Venturers had its
home; and, finally, the churches of All Saints’, St. John’s, and St.
Andrew’s. The leading features of the castle were commented upon by Dr.
Bruce and Mr. Longstaffe, who placed its date at about 1172-7, and held
that it was absurd to ascribe it to the previous century or to a son of
the Conqueror. Dr. Bruce pointed out the king’s chamber, with its
curious Norman chimney-piece, the whole of the chamber being cut out of
the solid wall; the queen’s chamber, a corresponding apartment on the
other side of the building; the donjon or dungeon keep in the basement,
and the Norman chapel, with its rows of round-headed arches, with
curious and costly mouldings. At All Saints’ Church the visitors were
shown the fine brass of Roger Thornton--one of the finest in the
Kingdom; and in the mayor’s room at the Old Exchange a series of mural
paintings, representing scenes and sketches from old Newcastle.
In the evening the antiquarian and historical sections respectively of
this Congress were opened at the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical
Institute by Dr. Bruce, the historian of the Roman wall, and the Rev.
Canon Creighton, who has just been appointed to a chair of history at
Cambridge. The lecture of the former gentleman treated mainly of the
subjects with which his pen is so familiar, and especially with the
early introduction of Christianity into Northern England, quite apart
from the emissaries of Rome and St. Augustine; whilst Canon Creighton
drew an interesting picture of the history of Northumberland,
Cumberland, and the adjacent counties, as the border district between
England and Scotland, and therefore in many ways the sufferer from the
wars between those two countries, and from the frays which continued to
be carried on between their inhabitants long after the two countries had
been united under one Crown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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