|
The Black Gate of
Newcastle.
Sauron
mustered his
army in front of his Black Gates.
They were described as two vast iron doors
under a frowning arch. In the film, they were depicted much more massive
with contorted, elvish decoration.
Longshanks
in his 1296 war on Scotland mustered
 his
army
at Newcastle upon-Tyne, the only city in these islands which has a
fortified gate that later became known as
The Black Gate.
From Newcastle,
he attacked Berwick, Dunbar, Edinburgh,
Stirling Castle and Brechin
Castle. When he attacked these last two castles it was the first time
explosive powder was used in
these islands
Tolkien would have
seen this when he visited Newcastle
in 1910, 1911 and 1912 staying with
his aunt and her
family. Recently it has been cleaned but previously it
was described as, 'Truly a grim, rugged and imposing structure, roomy on
plan, and of considerable height as
viewed from the north’. The Gate is
now only connected
to the Keep, but it had been part of a bigger
structure of
castle and walls.
More recently Newcastle had become a main industrialized city for the
making of tanks, guns and naval ships. A main theme of ‘The Lord of the
Rings’ is the horror of the mechanised warfare which Tolkien experienced
in 1st WW trenches. The Newcastle Black Gate could have been a symbol
for him for the horrors of war.
Aside
The Gate was made by Longshanks’ father King Henry III between A.D.1247
– 1250 costing over £500. Edward 1st constructed only minor
additional defences in 1296. It
formed an additional
barbican
(a fortified outpost or gateway) in front of the earlier north gate of
the castle. It consisted of two towers with a passage running between
them. On either side of the passage was a vaulted guardroom. There was a
drawbridge at the front (facing west) and another at the rear.
Its unique unusual position enabled the whole length of the western wall
and ditch of the castle to be monitored from the Black Gate. It acquired
the name ‘Black Gate’ from the name of a tenant in it in the 17th
Century.
http://www.newcastle-antiquaries.org.uk/index.php?pageId=310
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle,_Newcastle |
