Rejoining the main path, we soon leave Armstrong Park and enter Heaton Park where, bearing left, we arrive at King John’s Palace. These ruins standing on high ground overlooking the Ouseburn valley are the remains of a fortified house and principal seat of Adam of Jesmond, at one time High Sheriff of Northumberland and reputed securer of Newcastle’s rights in the Town Moor. The ruins are locally known as King John’s Palace, although no part of the existing building is of the time of King John. However, in MacKenzie’s History of Newcastle of 1827, we find mention that Heaton was in the Barony of Robert De Gaugy who was highly distinguished by King John and there is a tradition that His Majesty retired, when in the North, to a fortified palace in Heaton which was the residence of this Nobleman and it may be that this tradition has caused a mix-up. There is a similar conflict with regard to a visit said to have taken place in 1299 when Edward I stayed in Heaton and gave 40 shillings to a boy bishop and his colleagues for entertaining him by singing Vespers at the feast of St. Nicholas.
Adam of Jesmond was a knight and staunch supporter of Henry III, and his house was build circa 1255. Records exist showing Adam became unpopular for embezzlement and extortion and applied to Henry for a licence to enclose, fortify and crenellate his house. Very little remains of Adam’s dwelling, just two sides of a square tower with two window openings, but it was probably as large as most fortified houses of the period. The main structure would have angled turrets and battlements surrounded by accommodation for the dependents, stalling for horses and cattle, and stores for harvest produce. The last record we have of Adam is a protection dated 1270 when Adam went on the seventh and last Crusade to the Holy Land with Prince Edward, Henry III’s son. The protection states to our beloved Adam of Gesoume, bearer of the cross, going with us and our eldest son beyond the seas in aid of the Holy Land. Adam did not return from the Crusade and the ungrateful Town allowed the house to collapse into disuse and disrepair by the late 1500s, although there was an attempt to repair it in 1911 by the Society of Antiquities.
Heaton Park was once part of the Ridley Estate and Heaton Hall stood at the south-east side; there were traces of an earlier medieval building on the site and it may well be this which is confused with King John’s Palace. Heaton Hall in 1617 was owned by Henry Babington who was visited that year by another royal person, King James I, who knighted his host when leaving. The hall was rebuilt in 1713 by one of the Ridley family when two towers were added. Nothing now remains of the hall, the site of it being under the housing at Shaftesbury Grove.
Our historical trail now ends, but as we leave and make our way through Heaton Park it is worth recalling that not far from here, along Newton Road, is the site of the terrible mining disaster at the Heaton Mains Colliery where on the 30th April 1850, workings collapsed at the lowest extremity of the mine. There were 105 persons in the pit at the time, of whom 30 escaped – 41 men and 34 boys died. The bodies of the dead are supposed to lie beneath a mound in that part of Heaton known as The Spinney, where one tree was planted for each life lost.
The trail info above is based on a booklet to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Dene’s official opening, a booklet produced by Parks & Countryside Ranger Service, Newcastle City Council. A version of the trail info is available on this PDF.
