Quayside

The Quayside is the oldest part of Newcastle and until the nineteenth century was the commercial centre of Tyneside.. Some of the oldest remaining houses in Newcastle are found on Sandhill these were originally the homes of wealthy merchants and date from the sixteenth century. This is where Bessie Surtees house still stands. Bessie Surtees defied her father who was a wealthy merchant and climbed from the upstairs window to elope with John Scott. Scott went on to become a wealthy peer, and in 1801 he became the first Lord Eldon and Lord Chancellor of England.