Re: Weekend header in Newcastle - Alan
The Lort Burn is a hidden stream that runs under Grey Street. It was was once a navigable waterway that carried out early commerce in Newcastle. The water way ran through a ravine under Grey Street, Dean Street, and the Side. The burn was used by the first Cloth Market houses, which had warehouses that communicated with the burn. The earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle was in 1296, when a 135 ft long galley ship was built at the mouth of the Lort Burn. Presumably, quays extended from the warehouses on each side of the burn. This would account for wide distance between the original buildings in the middle ages. The Lort Burn still exists under Grey Street and was bridged at High Bridge (just off the photograph) lower left. This is the present High Bridge street which leads to the Bigg Market. The ravine must have been very deep at this point. Other streams and sewers joined at this point.
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