Medieval Mischief at Newcastle Castle

Medieval Mischief at Newcastle Castle took the castle back to medieval times as it was taken over by the past.

A few weeks ago my twitter friends visited Newcastle and we met for the first time. We had a lovely night out, eating at Viva Brazil on Grey Street. They had to leave the next afternoon so we took the opportunity to have a look around Newcastle. We visited the Quayside and popped into the Quayside market. We also had a wander around the Baltic, an art gallery on the Gateshead side of the river. On the way back to Central Station we passed Newcastle Castle and noticed that Medieval Mischief was on.

Medieval Mischief at Newcastle Castle

Newcastle Castle is a medieval fortress near Central Station in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. We have visited Newcastle Castle before and really enjoyed our visit, finding out a lot about the part the castle played in the history of Newcastle. It is worth walking to the top of the castle for the stunning views across the city. Medieval Mischief was the takeover of the castle by people from medieval times. There were plenty of craft stalls, gifts and food as well as demonstrations and displays about medieval life.  Medieval Mischief was arranged by Time and Tide events who were responsible for the Mercutus, or Roman market, at Segedenum which we went to last year.

Newcastle Castle is made up of two parts, Black Gate and the Castle Keep.  We started off by going into the Black Gate which is the 13th Century Gatehouse.  We noticed a wandering minstral and a buffoon outside the gatehouse as we arrived and we followed them into the Black Keep.

Inside the Black Keep

Inside the Black Keep were plenty of food and craft stalls. We tried some samples of mead from the Lancashire Mead Company. Mead is an alcoholic drink made from fermenting honey and whilst it tastes sweet is quite strong. I loved the names of the meads, Vikings Blood, Freya and Odin among others. They all have a slightly different taste as slightly different things have been added during the fermenting process.

I also bought some pies from this pie stall to take home for my husband to try later.  They had a great selection and some of the pies used medieval herbs like chicken and comfrey.

The Castle Keep

Leaving the Black Gate we headed to the Castle Keep, the castle’s fortified stone tower. There were plenty of stalls on the way to the keep as well as a chance to get your face painted. If you fancied a cake there were plenty to choose from.

Inside the keep were plenty of displays about medieval life. We were shown how difficult it was to dress a knight, I definitely would not fancy wearing that armour.

There were also displays on how to prepare food and falconry. I find birds of prey fascinating and recently had a chance to hold a kestrel. This time we got close to a Harrier Hawk and an owl, both of which are beautiful creatures.

There was plenty more to see but we did not have time. The short time we spent there was really interesting and we learnt about what it was like to live in medieval times.

You might also like to read: Amazing buildings to visit in Newcastle during Heritage Open Days

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