May 29, 2010 Blackfriars

Blackfriars in Newcastle lies behind The Gate liesure complex and China Town in Stowell Street.
During the early years of the 13th century, orders of friars began to establish themselves in England. Newcastle came to have five friaries within its walls: Blackfriars (Dominican) established in 1239; Whitefriars (Carmelite) established in 1262; Austinfriars (Augustinian) established in 1290 (now the site of the Holy Jesus Hospital); Greyfriars (Franciscans) established in 1274 and the Trinitariansestablished in 1360. There was also the nunnery of St Bartholomew’s founded in 1086 near the present Nun Street.
During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was sold to the mayor and burgesses of Newcastle, who then leased it to nine of the town’s craft guilds, to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day.