**Newcastle** — formally Newcastle upon Tyne — takes its name from the castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conqueror's eldest son. The name is a transparent compound: 'new castle,' describing a Norman fortification that replaced an older structure on a strategic site above the River Tyne.
## Roman and Anglo-Saxon Predecessors
The site had been fortified long before the Normans arrived. The Romans built a fort here called *Pons Aelius*, named after the bridge over the Tyne constructed during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus). The fort guarded the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. After Roman withdrawal, an Anglo-Saxon settlement called *Monkchester* occupied the site.
## The Norman Castle
When Robert Curthose built his castle in 1080 during a campaign against Malcolm III of Scotland, the settlement needed a new name. Latin documents recorded it as *novum castellum* — the new castle. The compound stuck, displacing the older English name entirely.
The original timber fortification was rebuilt in stone by Henry II between 1168 and 1178. The stone keep still stands in the city center, one of the best-preserved Norman keeps in England.
## The Name's Components
*New* descends from Old English *nīwe*, from Proto-Germanic **niwjaz*, from PIE **néwos* — one of the most stable words in Indo-European languages. *Castle* entered English from Anglo-Norman *castel*, from Latin *castellum* (a small fort), diminutive of *castrum* (a fortified camp).
The compound 'Newcastle' proved productive: there are Newcastles in Staffordshire, County Down, New South Wales, South Africa, and elsewhere. Each names a settlement that grew around a castle that was, at some point, the newest one in the area.
## Coals to Newcastle
The proverbial phrase 'carrying coals to Newcastle' dates to at least the 1530s. Newcastle's coal trade made the city wealthy from the medieval period onward: coal was shipped from the Tyne to London and beyond. The phrase means to supply something to a place that already has it in abundance.