St. Helen, Bishopsgate & the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London, City of London. St. Helen's Bishopsgate is part of Reform, and has a similar theology to St Ebbe's, Oxford, and Jesmond Parish Church in Newcastle upon Tyne. The church dates from 1210 and contains many fifteenth and seventeenth century funerary monuments. It was the parish church of William Shakespeare when he lived in the area in the early 1600s. It is one of only a few City churches to survive both the Great Fire of London of 1666 and The Blitz during World War II.
Newcastle upon Tyne, often shortened to Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, in North East England. This northernmost city in England was founded in Roman times under the name Pons Aelius, with the current name being adopted from 1080 onwards. Newcastle, known at the time as "Pons Aelius" was founded by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, whose Wall is still visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road. The course of the "Roman Wall" can also be traced eastwards to Wallsend (Segedunum).
After the Roman withdrawal from Britain, Newcastle on the weald became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and was known throughout this period as Monkchester. After a series of conflicts with the Danes and the devastation north of the River Tyne inflicted by Odo after the 1080 rebellion against the Normans, Monkchester was all but destroyed. Because of its strategic position, Robert Curthose, son of the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle there in 1080 and the town was henceforth known as Novum Castellum or Newcastle. Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress. A 25 foot high stone wall was built around the town to defend it from invaders during the Border war against Scotland. The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle in 1174, and Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town. Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century and around this time became a county corporate.
King Charles bestowed upon Newcastle the East of England coal trading rights. This monopoly helped Newcastle prosper, but it had its impact on the growth of near-neighbours Gateshead and Sunderland, causing a North of Tyne/South of Tyne and a Tyne-Wear rivalry that still exists. During the English Civil War, Newcastle supported the king and in 1644 was stormed ('with roaring drummes') by Cromwell's Scots allies, based in pro-Parliament Sunderland. The grateful King bestowed the motto "Fortiter Defendit Triumphans" ("Triumphing by a brave defence") upon the town. Ironically, Charles was imprisoned in Newcastle by the Scots in 1646-7.
In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century. Newcastle also became the greatest glass producer in the world. Newcastle's development as a major city, however, owed most to its central role in the export of coal.The phrase taking coals to Newcastle was first recorded in 1538.
Another green space in Newcastle is the vast Town Moor, lying immediately north of the city centre. It is larger than Hyde Park and Hampstead Heath put together and the freemen of the city have the right to graze cattle on it. The wooded gorge of the Ouseburn in the east of the city is known as Jesmond Dene and forms another popular recreation area, linked by Armstrong Park and Heaton Park to the Ouseburn Valley, where the river finally reaches the River Tyne.
