Name: In the Footsteps of a Tyneside Poet, Robert Gilchrist | Ouseburn Summer Walks
Start: 2024-07-09T11:00:00-07:00
Location: Outside Big River Bakery

In the Footsteps of a Tyneside Poet, Robert Gilchrist | Ouseburn Summer Walks

The name of Robert Gilchrist (1797-1844) has slipped from popular memory, but in the mid-nineteenth century he was a local celebrity known for his poetic compositions and performances of comic songs. This walk takes us through where Robert Gilchrist lived and worked, following in his footsteps from Shieldfield to the Quayside and into the Ouseburn valley. We will visit locations associated with Gilchrist, his poetry and song, and you will learn about his connections to Victorian heroine Grace Darling, prominent role in the ‘Barge Day’ river processions, involvement in the development of cricket in Northumberland, and the making of Grainger Town and the redevelopment of Newcastle.
Starts outside Big River Bakery, Shieldfield, and ends at Ballast Hills Burial Ground.
Dr Paul Gilchrist is the 3x great-grandson of Robert Gilchrist. He is Principal Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Brighton and has been researching the life and times of his poetic ancestor for over a decade.