Carliol Square

Carliol Square is located on the east side of Newcastle city centre. The name derives from the Carilol family who once owned land here (the family de Carliol at Newcastle was noted in 13th century). The area where the modern square is located has an interesting history. The Square was built by what had been the east section of the medieval Town Walls between  Carliol Croft Tower (aka Plummer Tower) and Austin Tower. Plummer Tower can still be seen on Croft Street, which joins the north side of the Square. Historically, Carliol Square was the location of Newcastle Gaol (prison), built 1823-28. This replaced Newgate as Newcastle's prison. It also replaced Town Moor as the place of execution of prisoners. The prison closed in 1925 and was subsequently demolished. Also, from 1839, there was a railway station at Carliol Square, which was the western terminus of the Newcastle and North Shields Railway. Later the station closed following the extension of the line to the new Newcastle Central Station in 1850. The south-east corner of Carliol Square was demolished in the early 1970s, to make way for the Central Motorway A167(M). On the 28th June 2023, Carliol Square was on the national news after there was a serious fire in a derelict building here (the former ‘For Your Eyes Only’ nightclub), which resulted in temporary closure of the Central Motorway for 9 days until the building was made safe.