About Me
Hey there people, i'm North Shields and i'm a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, located in the North East of England. You can find me eight miles (13km) east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
I was "the town where no town ought to be" according to the jealous burghers of Newcastle. When my very first residents tried to set up a trading port the attacks from Newcastle's city merchants, both legal and physical, produced a lasting sense of injustice, set out in Ralph Gardner's book England's Grievance discovered in 1655. The silting of the river in the 18th century forced upriver traders to rely on the river mouth towns, but the Port of North Shields was not officially created until 1848. My name derives from the Middle English "schele" meaning "temporary sheds or huts (used by fishermen)" and still today, I am synonymous with fishing and other trades associated with seafaring.
In the following year Smith's Docks was built, growing to become the largest ship repair company in the world, it has sadly now closed. Also back in the day I used to have a colliery at Percy Main, but that too has now closed. So following the demise of fishing, coal-mining and ship-building in the area, several business parks, industrial estates and trading estates were established to provide alternative employment for my peeps. The biggest and most notable of these are The Silverlink and Cobalt. The town's association with the early days of the railways is recognised at the Stephenson Railway Museum near The Silverlink.
Over the years, I have grown from a small fishing village to incorporate the nearby villages of Chirton, Preston and Billy Mill, amongst others. A large council estate, Meadowwell to the west of me, was constructed to house residents displaced by the clearance of the Dockwray Square slum, a one-time home of film comedy actor Stan Laurel. Meadowwell was formerly known as the Ridges Estate - a name occasionally used today - and its name derives from a Well situated in a meadow upon which the estate was built.
Locals who have played a large part in my history include Ralph Gardner, who opposed Newcastle when it tried to stop ships from docking in North Shields to deliver and receive coal. Newcastle wanted the ships to continue up the river Tyne to dock there and therefore reap the financial rewards. Clifford's Fort, located on my Fish Quay, was built in the 17th century as a coastal defence against the Dutch. The Fort also played a crucial role during the Napoleonic Wars.
Admiral Lord Collingwood had a large mansion built in me. The house became Public House called The Collingwood Arms, which has since been demolished in early 2005 to make way for a retirement home. Collingwood was originally from Newcastle and fought with Nelson in the battle of Trafalger. Without Collingwood, Nelson could not have won the Battle of Trafalgar, and a large monument in his honour overlooks the River Tyne at Tynemouth. However, he never spent one night in the house he had built, so consequently the house was not considered a listed building.
I have recently undergone an extensive regeneration programme which has seen the revitalisation of the redundant docks. The Wet 'n' Wild indoor water park, an outlet shopping centre, a new Bowling alley, a JJB Soccer Dome and a marina form the centrepiece to the Royal Quays development to the south-west of me. Similarly, major regeneration of the Fish Quay to the south-east of my centre has included the construction of luxury apartments and the conversion of existing buildings into restaurants and bars. My Fish Quay plays host to an annual festival to celebrate the fishing industry's importance to the town's history.
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