Photographs Of Newcastle

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'.

17th April 2022

<[ style="text-align: center;">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: