The ebb and flow of Tyne’s fortunes
May 24 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal
NEWCASTLE and Gateshead’s famous quaysides have undergone huge change in recent years, with the transformation of the Baltic flour mills, the addition of the Sage Gateshead and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
But the quayside, now a hub of cosmopolitan bars, hotels and restaurants, was once the centre of the shipping industry, with a history of 2,000 years.
The Tyne’s first bridge was built by the Romans in AD120 and they followed the structure, called Pons Aelius or Bridge of Aelius, family name of the Emperor Hadrian, with a stone fort in AD150.
The main trade on the Tyne would have been wool, moving into coal and timber in the 13th Century. The Guildhall and Exchange became an important fixture at Sandhill in the 1650s, with a fish market held outside. The building now houses a visitor information centre, but in the 13th Century, merchants lived beside the river, mainly on the street still known as Side. After witnessing invasions and the bubonic plague, the Roman bridge collapsed during a flood in 1771, being replaced with a stone bridge in 1801. Robert Stephenson’s High Level Bridge was added to the landscape in 1849.
The Swing Bridge replaced the previous stone bridge in 1876 and by the 19th Century’s Industrial Revolution, the quayside had become a centre for shipbuilding, which thrived until the 1960s.
So important was the industry that the wharves lining the quayside were named after ports of trade, such as Hull, Malmo, Rotterdam and Aberdeen. These place names are recorded inside today’s Swirle Pavilion, near the Pitcher and Piano bar.
Work began on the Tyne Bridge, which has become a symbol of Tyneside, in 1925 and three years later it was opened by King George V.
After the birth of Tyne and Wear’s Metro, the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge was opened in 1978. Following the Second World War, trade dipped and by the 1980s Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides were largely derelict.
Redevelopment on the Newcastle side began the following decade with the Law Courts and Baltic Chambers. Historic features such as the Co-operative Society warehouse, now the Malmaison Hotel, were maintained and the Gateshead side of the river is now being transformed.
