Old Eldon Square is a

public square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

on Blackett Street,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. As well as green space the square is the site of a war memorial and location for the city's

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...

commemoration.

History

Eldon Square was built as part of the 1825–40 reconstruction of Newcastle city centre. In 1824 John Dobson was commissioned by

Richard Grainger Richard Grainger (9 October 17974 July 1861) was a builder in Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked with the architects John Dobson (architect), John Dobson and Thomas Oliver (architect), Thomas Oliver, and with the town clerk, John Clayton (Newcastle) ...

to produce designs for Eldon Square. The design was for three terraces facing a central

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

, each terrace being of two and a half

storey A storey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or story (American English), is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the wor ...

s. The east and west terraces consisted of 27

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

s of windows, whilst the north terrace had 39 bays. The first floors had continuous cast-iron

balconies A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

with Grecian honeysuckle decoration. Beyond this and the giant Doric

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s at the end of each terrace there was no other decoration. The terraces were faced with finely cut

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

. The author and campaigner

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist.Hill, Michael R. (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives'' Routledge. She wrote from a sociological, holism, holistic, religious and ...

once stayed at number 28 for six months with her brother-in-law.

The war memorial

Designed by Charles Leonard Hartwell, and unveiled by Earl Haig in 1923, the war memorial is situated at the centre of the square. It is a large

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

pedestal, with a different relief on each of the four sides. They are: :North: the words "Memory Lingers Here" above a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

sculptured wreath. :South: a sculptured picture of a lion below the dates 1914–1918 and 1939–1945. :East: a bronze relief of Justice, displaying two grieving women and a third (

Lady Justice Lady Justice () is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. Her attributes are scales, a sword and sometimes a blindfold. She often appears as a pair with Prudentia. Lady Justice originates from the personificat ...

) holding the scales. :West: a bronze relief of Peace, displaying a woman with a child and the Angel of Peace. On the top is a large bronze equestrian statue of

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, the patron saint of infantrymen and cavalrymen, slaying the dragon. The pedestal was designed by Cackett and Burns. The memorial was restored in 1991 and 2007.

Eldon Square Shopping Centre

In the 1970s the west and north terraces around the square were demolished to be replaced by part of

Eldon Square Shopping Centre Eldon Square (stylised as EldonSq.) is a shopping centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It opened in 1976 on the site of Old Eldon Square, a famous part of Georgian Newcastle designed by John Dobson in 1824. The centre was initially the la ...

which now dominates Old Eldon Square. At the time a councillor had stated that the square would be maintained as "it is only the buildings surrounding the square that will be removed." Some renovation was completed in 2008 and the square now features new landscaping and ground level access to the shopping centre.Eldon Square Shopping Centre Development Proposals
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References

External links

Eldon Square History
Squares in England Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne Parks and open spaces in Newcastle upon Tyne 1840 establishments in England Monuments and memorials in Tyne and Wear Saint George and the Dragon World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England {{TyneandWear-geo-stub