Tynemouth

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Tynemouth beach

This article concerns itself with the village. For the Parliament constituency of the same name, see Tynemouth (UK Parliament constituency)

Tynemouth is a village and historic resort in Tyne and Wear, England, situated at the mouth of the River Tyne, between North Shields (on the Tyne) and Whitley Bay (on the coast to the North). It is administered as part of the borough of North Tyneside, but until 1974 was an independent county borough (including North Shields) in its own right.

1 History
2 Beaches
3 Notable residents
4 Festivals
5 In popular culture
6 See also
7 References

Tynemouth was a settlement from Iron Age times and the headland was easily defended. The queens of Edward I and Edward II preferred to stay in the medieval castle there while their husbands were campaigning in Scotland. King Edward III considered it to be one of the strongest castles in the Northern Marches. After Bannockburn in 1314, Edward II fled from Tynemouth by ship.

Tynemouth Priory

Tynemouth Priory [1]stands next to the castle remains and its east wall is one of the finest Early English compositions in the country. Nikolaus Pevsner, the noted authority, includes it in his hundred best buildings of England. The Priory ruins are maintained by English Heritage [2] and are open to the public. There is a small entrance fee. The nearby Jingling Geordie's Hole inspired a legend and a folk song about finding great riches by exploring dangerous caves.

A 7 metre statue of Lord Collingwood, born in Newcastle, who was the first British commander to open fire at Trafalgar before breaking the French line, looks out over the mouth of the Tyne - a view encompassing both neighbouring North and South Shields. Collingwood took command of the Battle of Trafalgar upon the death of Admiral Nelson. The base of the monument features cannon from his ship, 'Royal Sovereign'. These are the only Trafalgar guns extant, aside from those on H.M.S. Victory.

Tynemouth was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1849 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The county borough covered the whole area east of Wallsend and south of Whitley Bay, including the less historic but more economically significant town of North Shields as well as smaller villages such as New York and Cullercoats. However, postally the whole area is North Shields. Today all of these places form one built-up area and Tynemouth is considered the wealthy, upmarket suburb of North Shields. It covers the area east of Northumberland Park and south of Beach Road.

Before the construction of the great piers (1854-95) at the river mouth, the notorious Black Midden reef was claiming victims just below this spot. This led to the formation of the first Volunteer Life Brigade in the country, who have a small museum at their station.

Tynemouth is popular locally for its beaches. Longsands is wide and sandy, with rolling surf. In recent years it has become a well known surfing beach, and has hosted international surfing competitions. King Edward's Bay is a smaller, more secluded beach next to the priory. The beaches and sea views have always attracted visitors, including Lewis Carroll in 1855, William Bell Scott, Algernon Swinburne and Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1862, when Swinburne declaimed his poems to the waves, and Charles Dickens who was knocked flat by a wave and soaked in 1867.

Tynemouth is the endpoint for the 140 mile long Sea to Sea Cycle Route [3](C2C) from Whitehaven or Workington in Cumbria. The seafront is also the site of the Blue Reef Aquarium.

Harriet Martineau, Novelist and journalist, lived at 57 Front Street 1840-45. Her eminent visitors included Richard Cobden and Thomas Carlyle.

Andy Taylor, former lead guitarist for the New Wave group Duran Duran, was born and raised in Tynemouth, the son of a fisherman who raised him as a single parent after Taylor's mother abandoned the family.^[1]

Each year, Tynemouth and nearby North Shields play host to the Fish Quay Festival, which includes art, local and international music, street celebrations and a carnival-style event. This also includes a fireworks display with Tynemouth Castle as the preferred backdrop.

Starting in 2005 and continuing annually, the Mouth Of Tyne Festival (also known as the MOTFest) expands upon the Fish Quay Festival. It is staged in Tynemouth and South Shields on the opposite bank of the Tyne and includes live world music, cultural performances, processions and a pyrotechnic show, as well as art displays.

Tynemouth Pageant is a community organisation in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, devoted to staging an open-air dramatic pageant every three years in the grounds of Tynemouth Castle and Priory, by kind permission of English Heritage who run the historic monastic and defensive site at the mouth of the River Tyne.[4]

Many of the books of prize-winning children's author Robert Westall are set in Tynemouth.
The 80's television series Supergran was set in Tynemouth and the flying bicycle and other artefacts used in filming can be seen on permanent display in the Land of Green Ginger.
Much of the 2004/5 BBC television series 55 Degrees North, starring Don Gilet and Dervla Kirwan was filmed in and around Tynemouth, including the location of Nicky and Errol's houses.

Tynemouth Metro station