Hillgate

The following text is from
Vestiges of Old Newcastle and Gateshead by J.R. Boyle FSA
Low Felly Gaieshead'On-Tyne, June^ 1890.
The illustrations in the book are not available to me so I have sprinkled the text with pictures that were available


Hillgate, anciently styled Hellgate, is mentioned as early as 1354, when Eda Cragge, at one time the wife of William Sire, grants to Robert de Osworth and William de Barford, chaplains, and to John de Baumburgh, priest, a yearly

• 1631. Paide y" mason for hewing and laying stones at the pipe well, is.
1634. Paid for mending the breach of watter at the pipewell, 58.
1636. Paid for makeing the pipewell group cleane, 8d.
1639. Paid for a great Brass Cocke to the pipewell, 9s. 6d.
1645. Paid to John Marley for a new core of lead to the cok of the pipewell, 2s.
1702. Work wrought by William Tweart att y« pipewell : to a stone for the Heesterin, 2s. 6d.; to flaggs, Ss.;
to lime and sand, 4s.; to hare, 2d.; to drinks, Ss.; to women bearing of Rubbis, 6d.
1737. Work done at the Pipe well : to a p» of pipe to the spoot, 8d.
1752. Work done at the pipewell : to Tarrass and Lime, is. ; for the use of wail bone to scouring y* pipe, is.
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rent of three shillings arising from a tenement, in which William Rote once lived, and situate in the town of Gatesheved, in a certain way called Hellgate.
In 1375 Henry Gategang, rector of Belton in Lincolnshire, the heir of John Gategang and of John of Barnard Castle, grants to John Dolphanby certain land in the town of Gateshead, between the land of Sir Thomas Surteys on the south and Hellegate on the north. So the old Gateshead names of Gategang, Dolphanby, and Sire, with which we formed acquaintance in Pipewellgate, meet us again in Hillgate.

But one of Hillgate's chief claims to distinction rests on the fact that it was for some years the home of Stephen Bulkley, one of the earliest of Tyneside printers. Scarcely anything is known of his life. In 1642 he was in business in York, and there he remained till 1646, when he removed to Newcastle. In 1652 he transferred his printing press to Gateshead. One of his publications bears the imprint : "Gateside, printed by Ste. Bulkley, and are
to be sold at his house in Hill Gate. 1653." The last of his Gateshead imprints that I have seen is dated 1658. In 1659 ^^ w^s once more established in Newcastle. How long he remained there I am unable to say, but in 1663 he had returned to York, where he died in February, 1680, leaving his business to
a son and daughter. In 1689 the name of Bulkley disappears finally from the chronicles of the York press.* But the connection of Gateshead with the early

* The following list of Bulkley 's Gateshead publications, which is as complete as I can make it, will be acceptable to collectors.

1. The Doctrine and Practice of Renovation, Wherein is discovered, What the New Nature, and New Creature is ; Its Parts, Causes ; The Manner and Means aUo how' it may be attained. Necessary for every Christian to know and practice. By Thomas Wolfall, Mr. of Arts, and late Preacher of the Word of God in Newcastleupon-Tyne.
Gateside ; printed by S.B. 1652.

2. [The same book with a new title page, and the following imprint :] Gateside ; Printed by Ste : Bulkley, and are to be sold at his house in Hill Gate, 1653.

3. The Quakers Shaken : or, A Firebrand snach'd out of the Fire. Being a briefe Relation of God's wondefull Mercy extended to John Gilpin of Kendale in Westmorland. Who (as will appeare by the sequel) was not onely deluded by the Quakers, but also possessed by the Devill. If any question the truth of this Story, the Relator himselfe is ready to avouch it, and much more. Gateside, Printed by S.B. and are to be sould by Will. London, Bookseller in Newcastle,.

1653-

4. The Perfect Pharisee, &c. [For full title see page 31.]

5. The Converted Jew : or, the substance of the Declaration and Confession which was made in the Publique Meeting House at Hexham, the 4th Moneth, the 5th Day, 1653. By Joseph Ben Israel Printed at Gate side by S. B.

6. A false Jew ; or, A wonderful Discovery of a Scot, Eiptized at London for a Christian, Circumcised at Rome to act a Jew, re-baptized at Hexham for a Believer, but found out at Newcastle to be a Cheat. Being a true
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printing of the north did not cease on the departure of Bulkley. In 17 10 one J. Saywell had established a press here, I believe, like Bulkley, in Hillgate. Saywell was the printer of the first Newcastle newspaper, of which only a single copy, preserved in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, is known to exist.
The following is its title : *'The Newcastle Gazette, or the Northern Courant; being an Impartial Account of Remarkable Transactions, Foreign or Domestick. From Saturday, December 23, to Monday, December 25, 1710. No. 65. Gateside : Printed by J. Saywell, for J. Button, Bookseller on the Bridge."
It was issued three times a week, and, if we may assume that it appeared quite regularly, its first number would be dated Wednesday, July 26, to Saturday, July 29, 1710. Button, its publisher, was a friend of Daniel de Foe, who, too,
is said to have resided for a time in Hillgate. It may have been in honour of that sojourn that Gateshead had once, as we learn from Hilton's Poems, a tavern with the sign of ** Robinson Crusoe."

Before the Gateshead explosion in 1854, Hillgate retained many evidences of its bygone importance. One old house on the north side of the street was especially noticeable. Its front was adorned with large and imposing sculptures in stone. They were rescued from the debris of the explosion, and are now preserved in the Castle of Newcastle. One is an arched door-head, which festoons of leaves, flowers, and fruit are carved in bold relief. The other is a square slab, which bears the arms of the Trinity House of Newcastle, with crest, supporters, and motto. The house which presented to the passer by these marks of dignity belonged, in the time of Charles II., to one Matthew Bates, "master and mariner,'' and, in 1692, was purchased from his heir by Robert Proctor, another ** master and mariner." He was master of the Trinity
House in 1702, and died in 1712 or 17 13. The sculptures must be ascribed either to Bates or to Proctor, but most probably to the latter.


on relation of the detecting of one Thomas Ramsey, born of Scotch Parents at London, sent lately from Rome by a special! Unction and Benediction of the Pope ; who landed at Newcastle, under the name of Thomas Horsley, but immediately gave himself out for a Jew, by the name of Rabbi Joseph Ben Israel, Mant. Hebr. soon after baptized at Hexham, by Mr. Tillam, and by a speciall providence of God, found out by the Magistrates and Ministers of
Newcastle upon Tine, to be an Impostour and Emissary of Rome, and since sent up to the Generall and Councell of State to be further enquired into. Printed for William London, Book -seller in Newcastle, 1653.

7. A Further Discovery, &c. [For full title, see page 31.]

8. The Counterfeit Jew. [An 8 page tract, without title, printer's name, place, or date, but proved by the head-piece
on page I to have come from the press of Bulkley, and by its contents to have been printed in 1654. ]

9. The Quaker's House, &c. [For full title, see page 31.]

Amongst early Gateshead printers the name of G. Read is entitled to be mentioned. The only work from his press which I have seen bears the following title :

King George's Just and Legal Right to the Crown A Sermon Preached in Newcastle, Oct. 20. 1714. Being the
Day of His Majesty's Coronation. Tate and Brady's Version, Psalms 21. 72. To which is Added, The Substance of some
Discourses on Matth. V. xliv. But I say unto you, Love your Enemies, Bless them that Curse you, do Good to them that
Hate you, and Pray for them which despitefuUy Use you and Persecute you. Wherein the Duty and Reasonableness of
loving our Enemies is Demonstrated, Objections Answered, and the just Bounds thereof describ'd. By Joseph Baily.
Gateshead : Printed by G. Read, and Sold by J. Button, Bookseller on the Bridge. Pr. 4d.
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