Photographs Of Newcastle: Spital Tongues

Spital Tongues

Spital Tongues is an area located north west of the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Its unusual name is believed to be derived from 'spital' - a corruption of the word 'hospital' that is quite commonly found in UK place names (for example Spitalfields) - and 'tongues', meaning outlying pieces of land. Edward I gave two such 'tongues' of land to the St Mary Magdalene Hospital - hence 'hospital tongues' and eventually 'Spital Tongues'.

18th September 2024

Ancrum Street, Benson Memorial Church.

In 1845 Messrs Nicholas Scott and John Benson opened a Sunday School in temporary premises. The Benson Memorial Church was opened in 1867 after the death of Mr Benson, who was a prominent citizen, grocer and tea dealer and founder of the Newcastle Stock Exchange. Methodists left in 1949.

I'm not sure when the building was last in use but it looks in a rather poor condition. Please get in touch if you have any more information about the church.

Source: Sitelines

Belle Grove Terrace.

Mill House.

17th April 2022

The Chimney Mill, Claremont Road.

This was the site of a windmill before 1649, with the last mill being built here in 1782. This last mill was the first five-sailed windmill in the country, a smock mill designed by Smeaton, and may have been the last working windmill in Newcastle. It fell out of use in 1872. Prior to this the mill had been part of a complex which contained other activities, including a snuff mill. Following its closure it was utilised by Newcastle Golf Club as a clubhouse.

The surviving window arrangements were installed at this time along with a new front to the building. The sails were dismantled in the 1920s, the fan tail removed in the 1930s and the windshaft and cap removed in 1951. It remained in use as a clubhouse until the early 1970s when it became an architect's office, at which time the covering of the tower was replaced with a modern "shiplap" boarding and a temporary flat cap was erected.

At some point during the life of the golf club, asbestos tiling was laid over this earlier covering. The building is the only surviving smock mill in Tyne and Wear and possibly the northern region. Within the building there survives sections of the main timbers of the shell, parts of the ancillary timber work and importantly the interior roller mechanisms on which the cap turned.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Sitelines.

St Luke's Church, Claremont Road.

Parish church. Dated 1886; completed 1890. By Oliver and Leeson. Brick with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roof with stone gable copings.

Short nave with south porch; paired transepts; chancel with north vestry and south apsed chapel. C13 style. Gabled porch has double panelled door, and overlight with cusps, in deep chamfered surround with moulded head. Plate tracery to 3-light windows; 2-light traceried windows in chapel and vestry; 5-light east window with sill and drip strings. Buttress. Steeply pitched roofs, rounded over chapel; cross finial to chancel; west belfry with high pyramidal roof.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Sitelines.

Claremont Terrace, Claremont Road.

North Terrace.

3rd February 2010

Huntsmoor House, Hunters Road.

Huntsmoor House, Hunters Road, was built as a soldiers' home in 1899 to meet the social needs of those soldiers stationed at Fenham Barracks.

During the fifties large steam presses were installed for finishing tailored garments. Many of the operators of the presses were adults with learning difficulties. They congregated in the centre of Newcastle each morning and were then walked to Huntsmoor House to begin their work. Occasionally, one of the workers would lean out of a window to call over children playing in the backlane between Hunter's Road and Ancrum Street to send them on an errand for sweets to Jenny Proctors sweet shop. A small twist of Victory V lozenges was a favourite purchase and the child running the errand would be rewarded with half a lozenge on their return. Later, Huntsmoor House was used as a warehouse by the Newcastle bookseller Thornes before being turned into student accommodation.

A three-storey red brick structure, the design of Huntsmoor House is unusual, topped with a crenellated tower featuring carved shields and a flagpole. The central section is flanked by two arched windows that rise through two storeys, with a Tudor style exposed beam gable above.

Source: Wikipedia

The North Terrace, Claremont Road.

St Luke's Church, Claremont Road.

Richardson Road.

Belle Grove Terrace.

1st October 2008

Hunters Road.

Belle Grove Terrace.

Cross Morpeth Street.

Morpeth Street.

Belle Grove West.

Dunns Terrace.

21st September 2007

St Luke's Church, Claremont Road.

The North Terrace, Claremont Road.

The Chimney Mill, Claremont Road.

12th May 2007

Belle Grove West.

Laid out in 1870. Led to the filling in of the entrance to the Victoria Tunnel.

Belle Grove Terrace, Belle Grove Public House.

Built around 1875 by Sanderson's Haymarket Brewery. It replaced the Mill House pub. A new doorway into Ancrum Street was built in 1888. A rear extension was added in 1900. In 1923 Newcastle Breweries incorporated the adjoining terraced house into the pub. No 19 Belle Grove Terrace was the home of renowned regional artist, realist painter, woodcarver and illustrator Ralph Hedley (1848-1913) between 1885 and 1913. In 1934 there was more remodelling.

Source: Sitelines.

5th February 2007

Spital House, Hunters Road.

Hunters Road and Fountain Row junction.

Belle Grove West.

Hunters Road.

Undated Photos

Photos by Spital Tongues resident Richard Walker.

Muriel Latour's Old Photos

Muriel Latour, an ex-pat Geordie, now living in Canada kindly sent these photos of her family that lived in the Spital Tongues area.

My grandfather(Tot) had a house on Dunn's Terrace with a byres and farm yard with about 12 or so cows directly across on the other side of the road. It was a dairy farm and he used to graze his cows on the moor and bring them for milking (by hand) up Hunters Road! The dairy was called Stephenson Bros Dairy.
The oldest photos taken, I would guess, date from around 1886 - 1888, as my grandfather is in them as a young boy and he was born in 1876.
The other two are of him and his brother Joe, with one of the dairy cows and one of Joe with the horse and trap that was used to deliver the milk.

Joe, Tot's brother with the Stephenson Bros. Dairy cart and horse.

Stephenson Family.

Tot and Joe.

Uncle Bob, Aunt Margot and my grandfather Tot.

More Information:

Historical interest in Spital Tongues:

Past and present religious sites in Spital Tongues:

Past and present industrial sites in Spital Tongues:

Past and present public houses/breweries in Spital Tongues:

See my other photos around Spital Tongues:

13 comments:

Anonymous said...: Interesting to see the development of Spital Tongues, especially Dunns Terrace off Hunters Road.

My grandfather had a house there complete with byres with about 12 or so cows and farmyard It was a dairy farm and he used to graze his cows on the moor and bring them for milking (by hand) up Hunters Road! It was called Stephenson Bros Dairy and I do have a couple of old pictures.

Muriel; 23 August 2008 at 22:55
Newcastle Photos said...: If I'm honest I'd say I did'nt know the area at all until the last couple of years in which I've had a few wanders around the area.

I do have a few more pictures of the area from a recent trip up there to put up here at some stage soon so I'll see if anyone of them feature the streets you mention although I'm almost sure that the Dunns Tce area was demolished in recent years and is now modern houses.

If you would like to contribute the photos you have to this page I would be delighted. Or if you have them on a website anywhere maybe I could use a thumbnail of the images and link them to your site with the full size photos on. You would retain full copyright of any images used and I could'nt profit as this site does'nt make me a penny, it's very much a labour of love.

Thanks.; 24 August 2008 at 16:19
Anonymous said...: Pictures on their way via. e-mail. Hope they come through; 24 August 2008 at 21:15
Newcastle Photos said...: Thanks very much. :)
I'll be in touch soon.; 25 August 2008 at 12:57
Anonymous said...: Belle Grove Terrace was also the family home of T Dan Smith I knew him and his family and they were very nice kind people.; 16 November 2008 at 12:53
Pat watson said...: My grandmother (Fenwick) lived on Claremont Road, having swopped houses with my great grandparents (Littlefair) from Morpeth Street. My aunt & uncle lived on Sheraton Street (Armistead) later moving to Mill House. They drank in the Belle Grove pub and were friends with T Dan Smith. I have a photo of aunt & uncle and my grandmother in the Belle Grove. I was christened in St Luke's church. I also have a photo of my Uncle Billy Fenwick who drove for Harton, later Birds Laundry.; 13 September 2013 at 21:54
Anonymous said...: I lived in Hunters Road and have a couple of old photos if you would like to post them to your site; 28 March 2016 at 21:29
Newcastle Photos said...: Yes, that would be lovely, thanks. Please could you email them to newcastlephotos.yahoo.co.uk
Thanks again.; 30 March 2016 at 13:58
C.Dan Smith said...: Fascinating to see all these pictures - I used to live at 13 Belle Grove Terrace and we loved Spital Tongues. The Moor out the front of the house was our football pitch in the winter and cricket square in the summer. Used to play football with Alun Armstrong when he was a student at the uni. A wonderful family home with some wonderful neighbours up and down the street. My father was T Dan Smith.; 2 March 2017 at 20:10
Julie said...: My parents used to live on Sheraton street and Im after any photos of the streets original houses if anybody out there has some. I remember my Dad frequenting the social club on Belle Grove Terrace but cannot remember which building it was housed in - if anybody out there remembers, we think it was perhaps the top corner.
Julie; 7 February 2018 at 17:03
Unknown said...: Does anyone remember Birds Laundry that was on Claremont Road, my mother worked there from 1935 to 1942. Are there any photos.; 30 August 2020 at 11:59
Anonymous said...: I was in the last year of Morpeth Street School's existence 1976-1977 and have very fond memories of it and Spital Tongues in general. Does anyone have any old photos of the school that have not been published already?

Is the email address still active for sending photos to? I have a few that may be of interest...; 7 September 2021 at 16:52
Newcastle Photos said...: Thanks, my email is newcastlephotos@yahoo.co.uk; 8 September 2021 at 06:01