AAG Archaeology

12/08/2026

Gallowgate Old Baths, north of the Newcastle Town Wall was demolished in the 1890s to widen the road. The surplus land was auctioned in 1897, purchasers were allowed to build against the northern face of the Town Wall, and on top of the wall, except for the six inches next to the southern face.

07/07/2026

An unusual find in buildings archaeology, a lift shaft turned into a stairwell.

23/06/2026

30 years ago today, I was there. After the fact it felt completely different, but in the run up there was a lot of doubt that the band would actually play as advertised. Even on the weekend there were rumours that Lydon could not sing after his jaw had locked following a dental procedure gone wrong. When the band came on there was a massive surge in the crowd, the crush picked me up by the shoulders and my feet didn't touch the ground as I seemed to be moved 100 m forward, left, back and right.

They couldn't have opened with a better song than Bodies as it literally has something to shock and offend everyone. Bodies had a special resonance with me as when I first heard Never Mind the Bo****ks, ("getting the bollox" as we used to call this pivotal moment in adolescence) I put the LP on the wrong way round and it was one of the first songs I heard on the B-side. I was 14 and an 18-year-old punk girl I knew had decided I was ready and gave me the S*x Pistols album and a shredded Dead Kennedy's t-shirt, which never lost the smell of her perfume.

Video Quality on this one is poor, but I have done my best to get d...

12/06/2026

The first thing you will notice about this historic Grade II-listed building is that Na**lm Death played here in 1987. Built in 1839, Graingerville South was the only building finished by Richard Grainger before the collapse of his ambitious scheme to make Elswick the new centre of Newcastle.

08/05/2026

Flashback ten years to finding this, an F1 type Anglo-Saxon namestone, possibly associated with the Northumbrian royal family. Similar to mid-7th to mid-8th century examples from Hartlepool, which is near where this was found. This find couldn't be publicized at the time due to the planning status.

04/05/2026

BlackGold, last night of UK tour.

18/04/2026

Looking at one of our sites from another one of our sites. High Level Bridge and the Turnbull Building, carried out ten years apart. One of the world's best examples of architectural ironwork and the building with the city's first million-pound apartment (and no Sting didn't buy it).

10/04/2026

Another day working on a road that has been everything from a prehistoric route, to a Roman frontier and a medieval holloway. Still lively today.