Tynemouth Priory and Castle
National iconRuined priory and coastal fort on a headland at the mouth of the Tyne, holding the river mouth for well over a thousand years
Open to visitorsan English Heritage site — check opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Tynemouth Priory and Castle share one rocky headland at the mouth of the River Tyne, and the setting is half the appeal. There has been something defended here for a very long time: an Anglo-Saxon monastery stood on the point before a Benedictine priory, a house of monks, was built after the Norman Conquest. The priory grew rich and important, and three early kings were buried in it, among them Malcolm III of Scotland, killed in battle in 1093.
Because the headland guards the harbour, it never stopped being a fortress either. A gatehouse and walls turned the priory precinct into a proper castle in the Middle Ages, and much later gun batteries were dug in to defend the river mouth, still in use through both world wars. So you get the roofless shell of the priory church, its east end still standing tall, sitting right alongside the concrete of twentieth-century coastal guns.
English Heritage looks after the site, up on the point above Tynemouth village. It is an easy, breezy visit with big sea views, and it sits between two good beaches: the little cove of King Edward’s Bay tucked right below the walls, and the broad sweep of Long Sands just to the north. The King Charles III England Coast Path passes along the shore here too.
More at the National Heritage List entry
