Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/283

 ARCHEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. 263 carried through the town of Newcastle, the ancient keep of the old Norman fortress has become a most prominent object of interest, not only to anti- quaries, but also to tlie inhal)itants of this great commercial town, and to the numerous strangers who daily arrive in it. The facility of access to the keep, which formerly was only to be reached through the dirty and narrow street of the Castle Garth or Bailey-gate, will be greatly improved by the projected approach to the High-level bridge, while from every part of that magnificent structure, and from the great line of railway entering Newcastle from the south, the noble keep, one of the most perfect Norman edifices in the kingdom, will ever present a prominent feature, and be almost the first object of enquiry to the curious or the scientific observer. By the pro- jected alterations the keep, or castle as it is generally termed, will be com- pletely isolated from the unsightly dwellings and shops that lately obscured its massive proportions ; it will stand alone in a space bounded on the north and west by the line of railway, and on the south and east by the county courts and the adjoining buildings. The attention of the Society of Anti- quaries of Newcastle-uiJon-Tyne has long been directed to the dilapidated condition of the interior of this beautiful specimen of Norman architecture, and they gladly embrace the present opportunity of representing to the Corporation of Newcastle the great advantage and convenience of rendering this noble edifice an object of greater interest to all, by making it the re- pository for the relics of antiquity, of which Northumberland has afforded so large a proportion. Local museums of antiquities are now forming in many of the great towns of England ; Newcastle may be cited as one of the very first where such a gathering of the curious relics of former ages was commenced, and the Society of Antiquaries can now boast of possessing a collection of this kind, which in many respects is perhaps unrivalled in Great Britain. At present the museum of the Society is with difficulty accessible to strangers, the collections cannot be properly exhibited for want of room, while much that is of the highest local and archaeological interest remains in the hands of private individuals, but would assuredly pass into the museum were an appropriate locality once found for its ex- hibition. But it is not on these grounds that the Society of Antiquaries now come forward to solicit the aid of the Corporation towards the preser- vation and repair of the keep. They consider it to be a building of such interest, that the honour as well as the interest of the town is deeply con- cerned^ in its restoration. Northumberland as the frontier comity before the union with Scotland, was studded with numerous castles, but few or none have better withstood the ravages of time and the fortunes of war, than the keep of this great town. The zeal and perseverance of a former member of the Corporation, the late Alderman Forster, has preserved the shell of the keep from utter destruction, and repairs had already, under his auspices, been commenced in the exquisite Norman chapel, but they were only continued to a very small extent. The great object of the Society of Anticjuarics is now to restore the interior of the keep as nmch as possible
 * ' In consequence of the great alterations produced by the line of railway