Herber Tower

A medieval sentinel in the city

Herber Tower, also known as Heber or Harbot Tower, is a late 13th-century drum tower forming part of Newcastle upon Tyne’s medieval town walls. Built as a defensive structure, it projects from the curtain wall at the western angle of the surviving stretch, standing as a robust, semi-circular stone bastion. The tower is substantially intact, with a single-storeyed, oblong rib-vaulted chamber inside and three original cross-loop openings that once allowed archers to defend the wall. Its position marks a sharp bend in the wall as it turns northeast toward Gallowgate, once overlooking a deep outer ditch known as the King’s Dyke.

From guild hall to historic monument

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Herber Tower was adopted by the Company of Armourers, Curriers and Feltmakers, who used it as their meeting house and funded its restoration around 1770–1771. This reuse of a defensive tower as a guild hall reflects how Newcastle’s medieval walls were gradually integrated into civic and commercial life. The tower’s association with these trades is recorded in the guild’s own records, where it appears as ‘Harbot Tower’. Over time, as the city expanded and the walls lost their defensive role, the tower remained as a quiet witness to the city’s transformation.

Part of a living historic landscape

Today, Herber Tower is part of the longest continuous surviving section of Newcastle’s town walls, which runs along Back Stowell Street in the Chinatown area. It stands alongside Morden Tower and Ever Tower in a Grade I listed ensemble, protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The surrounding stretch of wall, with its prominent ditch and postern gates like the nearby Blackfriars Postern, offers a vivid sense of the medieval city’s fortified perimeter. The area is now a quiet, atmospheric corner of the city centre, where ancient stonework contrasts with modern streets and buildings.

What to expect when you visit

Visitors encounter a compact but evocative historic site, best appreciated as part of a walk along the old town walls. The tower itself is an exterior monument, visible from the street and footpaths, with information panels explaining its history and role in the city’s defences. The surrounding area is urban and accessible, with nearby restaurants, shops and the Blackfriars monastery complex (now a restaurant) adding to the sense of layered history. There are no formal visitor facilities at the tower, but the wider wall section is well integrated into the city’s public realm, making it easy to explore on foot as part of a broader historical or cultural walk through central Newcastle.