It's perhaps only when you look out from the very top of the Castle Keep - or Newcastle Castle as it's been re-branded in recent years - that you realise why it was built there in the first place.
With unimpaired views up, down, and across the River Tyne and situated high up, the location provided an instant strategic stronghold, casting its protective shadow over the succession of crossings that linked Newcastle and Gateshead where the Swing Bridge sits today.
Our three striking photographs come from a set that were taken from the top of the former Northumberland County Hall, immediately next door to the castle, 50 years ago. Today the imposing building is home to the popular Vermont Hotel. It was May 25, 1972, when a Chronicle photographer captured these views up and down the River Tyne and into Newcastle.
