Section of the 1770 plan of Newcastle by Charles Hutton. ©Newcastle Central Library
As is clear from this map, in 1770 Shieldfield was almost entirely unpopulated excepting the house on the north side of the green. It seems that the area called 'Shieldfield' at this time is the gated field which runs west to east between the gate next to the windmill where Northumbria's East campus now stands, and the opening onto where Stoddart Street now passes through. This is close to the site of the Fort and so fits with the widely circulated idea that Shieldfield gets its name from being a field where soldiers would armour-up for battle.
Pandon Dene is evidently still a deep valley at this time, and New Bridge street is not yet built, meaning that the steep and winding main road East from Newcastle runs from Pandon Gate, up Pandon Bank and along Stepney Lane, then back down to the Ouseburn. It is important to note that there is a cart track that leads to Shieldfield where Argyle street is now, as this is likely to mean that it was a destination in itself and held some importance. Hutton has placed great emphasis on the windmill in this drawing - perhaps this was an important windmill for the town, and certainly it is documented that there were water sources at Conduit Head (South of the windmill, at the crossroad of Pandon Bank and Stepney Lane).
Border Stones
On this map it is also possible to see a faint dotted line running east to west along Sandyford Road and then southwards down where Portland Road and Stoddart Street now sit. It is punctuated with small numbers. At the northern entrance to Shieldfield there is number 53, further south is number 54, further still is number 55 and then number 56 is visible where the line takes a sharp turn to the east at the eastern end of Stepney Lane. These numbers correspond with an account of 'the bounder stones of Newcastle' of 1770 which is a report on the state of the stones which according to the common council books appear to have been laid in 1648 (MacKenzie 1827). Shieldfield was part of the Byker township until it was transferred to Newcastle in 1549 for reasons I could not discover, and if these border stones were set approximately 100 years later then it appears that this was the extent of the land transferred, and was therefore the edge of Shieldfield ().
Stone number 1 was at the Tyne Bridge, and they were numbered in an anti clockwise circle round the city, meaning that not only was the cart track that became Portland Road the edge of Shieldfield, it was also the edge of the city. Even though the area has been developed and redeveloped numerous times since 1648, there is still something of an 'edge' to Portland Road, passing the last tower block and crossing the traffic lights to walk over the old city stadium site to Heaton has a definite sense of walking through a gate.
Long Lasting Boundaries
Although there were only footpaths and cart tracks through Shieldfield at the time of the 1770 map, there was a clear division of land into different fields. A later map indicates that this may have been down to land ownership and as the population of Newcastle grew and moved outwards it is likely that land was sold off field by field for development. this has lead to the street plan of todays Shieldfield being based on the field boundaries that were in place in 1770, and possibly long before that. The maps below highlight the field boundaries of 1770, and the corresponding street plan of today.
Border Stones
On this map it is also possible to see a faint dotted line running east to west along Sandyford Road and then southwards down where Portland Road and Stoddart Street now sit. It is punctuated with small numbers. At the northern entrance to Shieldfield there is number 53, further south is number 54, further still is number 55 and then number 56 is visible where the line takes a sharp turn to the east at the eastern end of Stepney Lane. These numbers correspond with an account of 'the bounder stones of Newcastle' of 1770 which is a report on the state of the stones which according to the common council books appear to have been laid in 1648 (MacKenzie 1827). Shieldfield was part of the Byker township until it was transferred to Newcastle in 1549 for reasons I could not discover, and if these border stones were set approximately 100 years later then it appears that this was the extent of the land transferred, and was therefore the edge of Shieldfield ().
Stone number 1 was at the Tyne Bridge, and they were numbered in an anti clockwise circle round the city, meaning that not only was the cart track that became Portland Road the edge of Shieldfield, it was also the edge of the city. Even though the area has been developed and redeveloped numerous times since 1648, there is still something of an 'edge' to Portland Road, passing the last tower block and crossing the traffic lights to walk over the old city stadium site to Heaton has a definite sense of walking through a gate.
Long Lasting Boundaries
Although there were only footpaths and cart tracks through Shieldfield at the time of the 1770 map, there was a clear division of land into different fields. A later map indicates that this may have been down to land ownership and as the population of Newcastle grew and moved outwards it is likely that land was sold off field by field for development. this has lead to the street plan of todays Shieldfield being based on the field boundaries that were in place in 1770, and possibly long before that. The maps below highlight the field boundaries of 1770, and the corresponding street plan of today.
It is clear that the current street plan follows closely the boundaries that have been in place for at least 240 years. The most southerly dotted line shows Newbridge street, which was built in 1812 at the same time as the 'New Bridge' that crossed Pandon dene. The other three dotted lines on the current map show where old borders have not been retained in the street plan, probably due to redevelopment.
