The excavation of a 17th-century pit at the Black Gate, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1975

Abstract

A stone-lined pit beneath the roadway into the castle was found to be part of the new defences constructed at the time of the Civil War. Artifacts found in the pit show that it had been filled up with largely domestic rubbish between c. 1645 and 1675. The finds include pottery, particularly redwares and tin-glazed wares, a variety of glass vessels including chemical apparatus, clay tobacco-pipes and some Scottish coins. The majority of the objects were imports, both from southern England and the continent.