Newcastle upon Tyne & Gateshead

Newcastle was given it's present name by Robert the son of William the Conqueror who built a wood fort in 1080 on reaching the Tyne after his farther had invaded Britain in 1066.

Originally an important military outpost of the Roman Empire located on Hadrian's Wall called Pons Aelius, having previously been called Monkchester by the Anglo Saxons.

It was rebuilt of stone almost a hundred years later in 1177 and later became a County in the fifteenth century when it became a trading centre, although it didn't become a City officially until 1882 after it became the centre of the Industrial Revolution.

Grey Street Necatle - I.Lindsay

When the centre of the City had already rebuilt by the architects Dobson, Clayton and Grainger whose names remain on the streets through the majestic buildings they erected.

Earl Grey stands 135 feet high at the head of a street named after him  overlooking the famous five now seven Tyne bridges.

The most famous of which was built by the same Teesside Bridge Engineers that erected the Sydney Harbour Bridge completed in 1932.

 Contrary to popular local myth the Tyne Bridge although similar and completed first and opened by King George V 1928, was designed last and not a prototype down under, which was in fact fabricated on Teesside and transported around the world for assembly.

The latest Millennium Tyne Bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 during her Jubilee Tour of Britain.

 Being a pedestrian Bridge between the Newcastle Quayside and the Baltic Arts Centre and Opera House on the Gateshead side making it the Social and Cultural centre of the revitalised twin Cities

Shipyard Canes  by Ivan Lindsay

Newcastle is located on the river Tyne famous as the centre of the Industrial Revolution at a time when the banks of the river were a mass of shipyards and Heavy Industrial workshops which supplied the world with Coal, Ore and Machinery.

Only a core of original industry remains having moved into Offshore Oil & Gas construction during the later half of the Twentieth Century.

Wallsend on Tyne as the name states this is the east end of Hadrian's Wall with a piece of wall being in the Swan Hunter Shipyard on the river side. On demolishing the shipyard workers terraced home recently the remains of a Roman Settlement were found.  SEGEDUNUM Roman Fort, Baths & Museum is now fully excavated and open to view along with a reconstructed piece of wall as it would have been in AD 410 when the Romans withdrew and returned to Rome. This site is easily accessed from Tyneside, Metro Rapid Transit system. Tel: 0191-295-5757

Segedunum Visitors Centre