April 29, 2010 High Lights & Low Lights

These two buildings are the High & Low Lights found at North Shields and used as a navigational aid to safely guide shipping into the Tyne. When entering the river through the piers if you line up the two lights it keeps you safely in the shipping lanes and away from the treacherous Black Middens rocks.

Because of the difficulty of navigating ships into the mouth of the river past the dangerous Black Midden rocks, buildings were erected with permanent lights burning to be used as a guide by the mariners. The first of these was the Old High Beacon, built in 1727. In 1802 this was replaced by the High and Low Lights, placed respectively at the top and bottom of the steep bank alongside the river. The Old High Beacon, as well as the High and Low Lights, still exist today as private residences. In 1806 a market place was opened on New Quay. In 1870 work began on constructing a fish quay to provide shelter for the docked fishing boats. This quay is still in use today. 

April 27, 2010 the Wooden Dolly

The Wooden Dolly outside a pub of the same name just up from North Shields Ferry Landing.

An interesting part of the history of North Shields is that of the "Wooden Dollies". In 1814 the female figurehead of a collier brig was placed at the entrance to Custom House Quay, on Liddell Street, and stood there until 1850, when it was vandalised. A second figurehead was placed on the same spot. The "Wooden Dolly", as the figurehead was known, was used by seafarers as a source of good-luck charms, by cutting pieces of wood from her to be taken with them on voyages. Eventually the figurehead was defaced beyond repair and after 14 years was replaced by Wooden Dolly No. 3. This remained until 1901 when it was replaced with Wooden Dolly No. 4 in the shape of a fishwife. A fifth Wooden Dolly, also a fishwife, was placed in Northumberland Square in 1958 and still remains there. In 1992 a sixth Wooden Dolly, was placed where the first four had been, at the entrance to Custom House Quay, and can still be seen there, next to the Prince of Wales public house.

April 26, 2010 Byker Wall

A view of the Byker Wall from near Stepney Bank on the Eastern edge of the City centre.

The Byker Wall is the name given to a long unbroken block of 620 maisonettes in the Byker district of Newcastle upon Tyne England. The block was designed by the notable architect Ralph Erskine assisted by Vernon Gracie, and was built in the mid-1970s. Its Functionalist Romantic styling with textured, complex facades, colourful brick, wood and plastic panels, attention to context and relatively low-rise construction represented a major break with the Brutalist high-rise architectural orthodoxy of the time.

On March 16th 2005 the architect of the wall died at the age of 91.

The Byker Wall was infamous as the home of "Ratboy" a juvenile delinquent who hid in its heating shafts when running from police during the 1990s.

April 25, 2010 Bowes Railway

The Bowes Railway Museum sits at the top of Leam Lane near Springwell - The Bowes Railway, built by George Stephenson in 1826, is the world's only preserved operational standard gauge cable railway system. It was built to transport coal from Durham pits to boats on the River Tyne. Only part of the system now remains.

The remaining hauler at Blackham's Hill on the Bowes system is, in effect, two haulage engines in one as it sits at the summit of two inclines. Originally in 1826, Mount Moor (later Black Fell) colliery was the end of the line. Full wagons were drawn up from Black Fell to Blackham's Hill using a single rope. Empties were let down to Black Fell on the same rope. At the summit, the second (Springwell) rope was used to lower the full wagons down to Springwell and to draw up the empties from Springwell under power to Blackhams Hill. This system remained essentially unaltered until the railway was abandoned by the NCB in 1974. This is the system that is now demonstrated on selected open days.
The only place in the world where rope haulage can be seen on a standard gauge railway system, Bowes Railway is a preserved colliery railway. On operating days, steam train rides are given to the hauler house for rope haulage demonstrations, but the fine examples of Victorian workshops and machinery can be seen during the week for free. Very often free guided tours are available.

April 24, 2010 The Victoria Tunnel

Taken on another cycle tour of Tyneside - The red door is the Victoria Tunnel in Newcastle's East End on Tyne Street  in Ouseburn. The tunnel opened in 1842 to run coals down to the river from Leazes Main Colliery on Spital Tongues. The tunnel was named after the young new Queen Victoria and was used during World War II as an air raid shelter. There were never any horses or steam engines operating in the tunnel. There is a difference in height between the colliery site and the Quayside of 222ft which provides an average gradient of about 1 in 90, sufficient for the waggons to descend the tunnel under gravity.

The tunnel is now reopened for regular guided walks.

April 22, 2010 Trinity House

Trinity House is just off Newcastle's Quayside on Broad Chare p the site was acquired in 1505 by the fellowship of Masters and Mariners of ships of the Town of Newcastle Upon Tyne  

The Trinity House complex has developed and expanded over more than five hundred years on the Broad Chare site, presenting a wonderful chronological architectural attraction for visitors.  To then enter and walk through the buildings is to further discover a unique and fascinating private collection of paintings, ship models, books, furniture, nautical instruments and artefacts from around the world and down through the centuries.

Guided tours are possible, but strictly by prior arrangement only.

April 21, 2010 Thomas Bewick

Just next to the Vampire Rabbit on Amen Corner you will also find this bust of another famous Tyneside son Thomas Bewick who is was an ornithologist and probably the most famous wood engraver ever - he produced a wealth of prints of birds and wildlife and there is even a society called the Bewick Society.

Thomas Bewick (12 August 1753 – 8 November 1828) was an English wood engraver andornithologist.

Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham,Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753. His father rented a smallcolliery at Mickley Bank, and sent his son to school in the nearby village of Ovingham. His current descendants are living in Nuneaton and Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Bewick was a poor scholar, but showed, at a very early age, a talent for drawing. He had no lessons in art. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to Ralph Beilby, an engraver in Newcastle. In Beilby's workshop Bewick engraved a series of diagrams on wood for Dr. Charles Hutton, illustrating a treatise on mensuration. He seems thereafter to have devoted himself entirely to engraving on wood, and in 1775 he received a premium from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce for a wood engraving of the "Huntsman and the Old Hound". In 1776 he became a partner in Beilby's workshop.

April 20, 2010 The Vampire Rabbit

f you venture down Amen Corner behind St Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle at the rear of the Cathedral Buildings on Dean Street you will find this little chap sitting above an entrance.
He is the famous Newcastle 'Vampire Rabbit' 

The bizarre figure of a fanged rabbit, is above the ornate doorway of solicitors' offices on Amen Corner, behind St Nicholas' Cathedral, in Newcastle.
Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of Archaeological Museums at Newcastle University, said: "'Sadly, very little is known about why the rabbit is there, or what it represents.
"We would love to hear from anyone who can enlighten us."

This is the view along Mosley Street in Newcastle from the junction with Collingwood Street and the Groat Market (Bigg Market). The large white building is the former Swan House which was the BT Telecomms Office in the City before it was converted in Apartments - It now houses both Linekers Bar and Metro Radio.  
Collingwood Street was made famous in the first verse of The Blaydon Races - 'we took the bus from Balmbra's and she was heavy laden - away we went along Collingwood Street, that's on the Road to Blaydon.

April 17, 2010 Two Reds - Two Shields

A view across the River Tyne from North Shields to South Shields where two red objects can be seen.

The Red Buoy in the foreground is on the North Shileds side just along from the Fish Quay - Four huge red shipping buoys salvaged from the river have been installed on the land to the east of the fort, reclaimed in the nineteenth century. These are also acting as markers at the confluence of two national and one regional cycle routes.

The red object on the South Shields side is the Groyne which dates back to the 19th century - 1866 - South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade is formed, using the watch house on the South pier as their base. They were the first brigade to make a rescue using the breeches buoy. Also this year an outbreak of cholera badly affects the town.

April 16, 2010 Lord Armstrong

This statue of Lord Armstrong stands on the North side of the City just outside the Hancock Museum on the junction of the Great North Road and Claremont Road.
Lord William Armstrong was a great industrialist of 19th century Tyneside
He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, at 9 Pleasant Row, Shieldfield, about three-quarters of a mile from the city centre. The house no longer exists but an inscribed granite tablet marks the spot. At that time the area, next to the Pandon Dene, was quite rural. His father, also called William, was a corn merchant on the Newcastle quayside, who became mayor of Newcastle in 1850. An older sister, Anne, born in 1802, was named after his mother, the daughter of William Porter.

In 1864 the two companies, W.G. Armstrong & Company and Elswick Ordnance Company merged to form Sir W.G. Armstrong & Company. Armstrong had resigned from his employment with the War Office, so there was no longer a conflict of interest. The company turned its attention to naval guns. In 1867 Armstrong reached an agreement with Charles Mitchell, a shipbuilder in Low Walker, whereby Mitchells would build warships and Elswick would provide the guns. The first ship, in 1868 was HMS Staunch, a gunboat.^[3]

In 1876, because the 18th century bridge at Newcastle restricted access by ships to the Elswick works, Armstrong’s company paid for a new Swing Bridge to be built, so that warships could have their guns fitted at Elswick. In 1882 Armstrong’s company merged with Mitchells to form Sir William Armstrong, Mitchell and Co. Ltd. and in 1884 a shipyard opened at Elswick to specialise in warship production.

From 1863 onwards, although Armstrong remained the head of his company, he became less involved in its day-to-day running. He appointed several very able men to senior positions and they continued his work. When he married, he acquired Jesmond Dene House, a house to the west of Jesmond Dene, Newcastle and began to landscape and improve land that he bought within the Dene. In 1860 he paid local architectJohn Dobson to design a banqueting hall in the Dene. His house close to Newcastle was convenient when he was a solicitor and an industrialist, but when he had more spare time he longed for a house in the country.^[3]

He had often visited Rothbury as a child, when he was afflicted by a severe cough, and he had fond memories of the area. In 1863 he bought some land in a steep-sided, narrow valley where the Debdon Burn flows towards the River Coquet near Rothbury. He had the land cleared and supervised the building of a house perched on a ledge of rock, overlooking the burn. He also supervised a programme of planting trees and mosses so as to cover the rocky hillside with vegetation. His new house was called Cragside, and over the years Armstrong added to the Cragside estate. Eventually the estate was 1,729 acres (7.00 km²) and had seven million trees planted, together with five artificial lakes and 31 miles (50 km) of carriage drives. The lakes were used to generate hydro-electricity, and the house was the first in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity, using incandescent lamps provided by the inventor Joseph Swan.

April 15, 2010 Tyne Tees Studios

The former home of Tyne Tees television studios on City road Newcastle.
The studios were first used in 1959 when Tyne Tees was simply known as Channel 8 and moved to Gateshead in 2005.
Tyne Tees is named after two of the region's three primary rivers. ITA considered the original name, "North East England", was imprecise. Some of the consortium's suggestions were rejected: "Three Rivers Television" for being obscure, and "Tyne, Wear, and Tees" for being too long. Eventually, in October 1958, the name "Tyne Tees" was announced. The other major river, the Wear (which runs between the Tyne and the Tees), was represented within Tyne Tees' early signature tune"Three Rivers Fantasy", a specially commissioned work by composer and arranger Arthur Wilkinson. The musical overture merged several regional folk tunes, such as "Water of Tyne", ending in The "Blaydon Races". ^[9] Part of the medley was based upon "The Sailor's Hornpipe". The nautical theme was also reflected in the station's first logo: an anchor gradually transformed into the triple Ts of the Tyne Tees Television logo

April 13, 2010 St Peter's Basin

A beautifully clear River Tyne reflecting St Peters Basin which is in the East end of Newcastle.

The little boat in the front is berthed on the South bank of the Tyne at Friar's Goose Boat Club and the National Cycle Route 14 passes along the river here.

April 12, 2010 Tyneside from Durham

This is the view from the top of the 217 feet central Tower in Durham Cathedral looking North to the Tyne Valley.
It costs £4 to climb the Central Tower and access is via a spiral staircase which goes straight up the corner of the Tower  and seems to be never ending !
It is amazing how far you can see on a clear day like today - St James park football stadium was plainly in view.
The black Tower on the horizon just right of centre is Washington - if you follow the horizon to the left you can see the many tower blocks in Gateshead near the Angel and in the dip to the left of that - well that's the Tyne Valley & Newcastle and the other Place of Worship - ST JAMES PARK.
Durham Cathedral is the greatest Norman building in England, perhaps even in Europe. It is cherished not only for its architecture but also for its incomparable setting. For this reason it was inscribed together with the Castle as one of Britain's first World Heritage Sites. In a nationwide BBC poll held in 2001 it was voted the nation's best-loved building. Like Hadrian's Wall and the Angel of the North, it is an icon of north-east England, its image is instantly recognisable to people who love this part of Britain.

April 11, 2010 Swan Hunters

A sorry looking Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend with many of the cranes now gone to India .
This is the Main Yard in Wallsend and the exit under the bridge and up the hill would see hundreds of workers running up the hill when the end of day hooter went on the Big River

The Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend was not only a major employer in the region but also became a landmark, with its iconic cranes shaping the skyline.

Workers at the yard, which closed in 2006, built a wide variety of ships, including the famous RMS Mauretania.

Their memories will form part of the Swans of the Tyne exhibition at Newcastle's Discovery Museum until May.

There will also be photos, video footage and technical drawings on display.

April 10, 2010 Bill Quay Lambs

Bill Quay Farm has lots of young lambs in the field - don't know why they all appear to be black - there isn't a white sheep of the family to be seen anywhere !

April 09, 2010 The Swarm and the Beehive

Here are both the 'Swarm' and the 'Beehive' which stand at the entrance to the former Monkton Cokeworks.
The swarm can be seen on the left - both artworks were commissioned bu One North East and were created by Lead artsist William Pym.

April 08, 2010 Two Rivers

Jarrow actually has two rivers - It sits on the south bank of the River Tyne but the town is disected North to South by the River Don.
This picture is taken at the confluence where the Don runs into the Tyne - in this picture as well as a colouful jib you can see a large pylon on the south of the Tyne which carries power cables across the river at a fantastic height.
below it and behind the white fence is the River Don.
There is a River Don Walk which runs from this point right up to St Nicholas Church in Boldon which is about 5 - 6 miles.

April 07, 2010 The Swarm

Monkton Coke Works was opened in 1938 as a result of the unemployment in Jarrow and finally closed in 1990.
The land has now been redeveloped into small business units and this striking piece of art was commissioned.
The entrance to the site features two award winning sculptures 'the swarm' and 'the hive.'  and there is a connection with the former cokeworks as beehives are not only where bees live but also an early type of coke oven - the last of which in the UK was on Tyneside at Garesfield High Spen - at one time there were more than 100,000 beehive ovens in the UK.
The former coke works at Monkton hold
memories in South Tyneside as a dark landmark
belching smoke and fire. One NorthEast’s
redevelopment of the site enabled Helix Arts
to begin an arts project that looked forward
to a new life for the site. Lead artist William
Pym’s role was to design a thematic landmark
and to involve local trainees in the production
of the sculpture, which now marks the gateway
to the new Business park

April 06, 2010 Jarrow Metro Station

This tribute to the Jarrow Marchers of 1936 can be found on the Westbound platform of Jarrow Metro Station.
The plaque again depicts the march to London and once again the dog features.
The Actual dog that took part in the original March was called Paddy apparently but I haven't been able to verify this on thee web anywhere (please let me know if anyone finds a reference)
This plaque was created by local Jarrow artist Vince Rea and was unveiled by Neil Kinnock in 1984.

April 05, 2010 The Spirit of Jarrow

This is a statue to commemorate the Jarrow Crusade of 1936. The statue called 'The spirit of Jarrow' was commissioned by and stands outside the Morrisons Supermarket in the Town Centre.

It shows two marchers, two children, a woman carrying a baby and a dog, which was the march mascot.

They are all walking out of the ribs of a ship carrying a banner.

April 04, 2010 Jarrow Vikings

These Jarrow Vikings live on a plinth on Grange Road near the corner with Ellison Street. You may notice also the Shopping Centre is called the Viking Centre, the pub across the road is called the Ben Lomond but used to be called the Viking and the Taxi company on Grange Road well that'll be Viking Taxis....
So why all the vikings then - well lets look at jarrows history.
The Angles re-occupied a 1st century Roman fort on the site of Jarrow in the 5th century[citation needed] Its name is recorded around AD 750 as Gyruum, representing Old English[æt] Gyrwum = "[at] the marsh dwellers", from Anglo-Saxon gyr = "mud", "marsh". Later spellings are Jaruum in 1158, and Jarwe in 1228. Today Jarrow residents popular nickname for Jarrow is "Jarra"
The Monastery of Saint Paul in Jarrow, part of the twin foundation Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory, was once the home of the Venerable Bede, whose most notable works include The Ecclesiastical History of the English People and the translation of the Gospel of John intoOld English. At the time of its foundation, it was reputed to have been the only centre oflearning in Europe north of Rome. In 794 Jarrow became the second target in England of the Vikings, who had plundered Lindisfarne in 793. The Monastery was later dissolved byHenry VIII.

April 03, 2010 Jarrow Town Hall

Jarrow Town Hall was opened in 1902 and is famous as the starting point from which the Jarrow Marchers set off for London on 5th October 1936.
The distinctive clock is dated 1951 and below it there is a plaque to the Jarrow Crusade. Behind the Town Hall you can see Wilkinson Court flats behind which you cannot see the sister Ellen Court - both being named after the MP for the Town during the Jarrow Crusade in 19366 - Ellen Wilkinson.

April 02, 2010 Toon @ Doncaster

Newcastle United (The Toon) in action during a 1 - 0 win against Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium at Doncaster.
Newcastle United are one of the biggest clubs in England, they have won the English League Champonship three times and the FA Cup on 6 occasions - they have also won a European trophy winning the Inter Cities Fairs Cup in 1969.

April 01, 2010

South Shields ferry landing with the Tyne Pride ferry berthed - you can see the Customs House at South Shields just on the extreme left and the view down the river looking east (upstream) to the Readhead Shipyard at Tynedock.
The Oilrig 'AH001' is at the McNulty yard on the river for repair.