Jan 31st | TAS AGM plus The Tyne Brewery Site, Newcastle: Beer, Industry and Moral Turpitude | Richard Annis 7.30pm at Stockton Central Library TS18 1TU (Doors open at 7.00pm). Guests are welcome for £4 each on the door.

The closure of the Tyne Brewery in 2005 marked the end of over 120 years of beer-making at the same spot on the west side of Newcastle. Well outside the medieval town

Tyne Brewery 1884. Pencil drawing.
Negative Number 54M99

wall and far from the Roman centre, the site might seem to be of little archaeological interest. Not so: investigation and recording work carried out by Archaeological Services before, during and after the clearance of the site has revealed a great deal of interest in the different uses this land has had. This talk will look at the extraordinary growth of the brewing business that gave the world Newcastle Brown Ale, as well as revealing what was found of the earlier industrial and social history of this part of the city.

About the speaker

Richard started working in archaeology as a schoolboy volunteer, helping on the excavation of the Roman villa at Woodchester, Gloucestershire, which contains the largest mosaic pavement north of the Alps. That got him hooked. Most of his work has been in the North of England, at Carlisle, Beverley, Birdoswald, and at Cleveland County Archaeology Section / Tees Archaeology. For the last 17 years he has worked for Archaeological Services on a wide range of projects, particularly historic buildings and human remains

Richard is Senior Archaeologist in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University.