South Shields

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South Shields

Coordinates: 54.9921° N 1.4286° W South Shields shown within Tyne and Wear
OS grid reference	NZ365665
Metropolitan borough	South Tyneside
Metropolitan county	Tyne and Wear
Region	North East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Dial code	0191
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Tyne and Wear
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	South Shields
European Parliament	North East England
List of places: UK • England • Tyne and Wear

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne, with a population of about 90,000. It is part of the metropolitan borough of South Tyneside.

1 Overview
2 History
3 Regional identity
4 People
- 4.1 Famous residents (past and present)
- 4.2 Yemeni community
5 Football
6 Politics
7 Public transport
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Overview

The Groyne sits atop a short pier built to protect the Harbour Beach

The town was once famous for its shipyards and its coal mines, but the last ship builder (Readheads) closed in 1984 and the last pit (Westoe Colliery) in 1991. Today, the town relies largely on service industries, leisure and retail, and as a dormitory town, with many residents commuting to work in Sunderland, Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne. For many years South Tyneside had the highest unemployment rate in mainland Britain, but between December 2002 and June 2004 unemployment fell by 24%, so the borough climbed up to 21st in the highest unemployment table. There has been extensive work to the town centre of South Shields (2005 - 2006) to bring it back to its former glory, financed by grants from central government and the European Regional Development Fund.

South Shields has six miles of coastline and three miles of river frontage, dominated by the massive piers at the mouth of the Tyne. These are best viewed from the Lawe Top, which also houses the cannons that once defended the river.

The town has extensive beaches and the Leas, which stretches along more than three miles of the town's coastline, is a National Trust protected area. Marsden Bay, with its famous Marsden Rock, is one of the largest seabird colonies in UK.

The Grotto, a pub built into the cliff opposite Marsden Rock stood, is the only pub/restaurant of its type in Europe.

As well as being the largest town in South Tyneside, South Shields is also one of the region's most popular seaside resorts, a status it has built up by marketing itself as Catherine Cookson Country. Thousands of people come to see where the famous author was born and brought up, before visiting the fairground and promenade on the seafront.

South Shields is home to South Tyneside College, one of the two leading maritime training centres in the UK, with facilities including a marine safety training centre and a simulated ship's bridge for the training of deck officers. The college is also home to the only planetarium in the region, as well as an observatory, making it a popular visitor attraction for local schools and other visitors[2].

One of the most historic parts of the town is Westoe Village, a quiet street of Victorian homes that built by Victorian business leaders in the town, including those who owned mines and shipyards. This street was the setting for a number of books by the novelist Catherine Cookson.

[edit] History

Marsden Bay. Much of the South Shields coastline is undeveloped, due in part to natural erosion

A large Roman fort, Arbeia, has been excavated in South Shields on the Lawe Top, overlooking the River Tyne. Founded c AD 120, it later became the maritime supply fort for Hadrian's Wall, and contains the only permanent stone-built granaries yet found in Britain. It was occupied until the Romans left Britain in the fifth century AD. A Roman gatehouse and barracks have been reconstructed on their original foundations, while a museum holds artefacts such as an altarpiece to a previously unknown god, and a Roman-era gravestone set up by a native Palmyrene to his freedwoman and wife, a Briton of the Catuvellauni tribe. There is also a tablet with the name of the emperor Alexander Severus (d. AD 235) chiselled off. The fort has been the setting for an investigation by the Channel 4 Time Team programme. However, the site has been used by previous settlers, most notably, the Angles. The site was also used by the earliest inhabitants, of the town, the Brigantes, a strong, fiercely independent Celtic tribe, who first named the town Caer Urfa, the town on the rock, or after King Urfa, a Celtic King.

Bede mentions a nunnery founded in AD 648 by Hild. This probably occupied the site where St Hilda's church now stands in the market place. Like many other parts of Britain and Europe, the North East suffered from Danish raiders, with the monasteries at Lindisfarne, Tynemouth, Jarrow and, in AD 865, Hild's nunnery, being sacked. The Vikings did not escape unscathed, however: AD 789 saw Danish longboats destroyed on Herd Sands, now Sandhaven beach. Halfdene and his host in AD 872 wintered on the Tyne and raided North Northumbria (Bernicia) and Scotland before occupying and partitioning South Northumbria (Deira) in Yorkshire.

The first reference to 'Scheles' (fishermens' huts) occurs in 1235, and the town proper was founded by the Prior and Convent of Durham in 1245. On account of the complaints of the burgesses of Newcastle an order was made in 1258, stipulating that no ships should be laden or unladen at Shields, and that no shoars or quays should be built there. South Shields then developed as a fishing port.

Salt panning along the Tyne began in 1499, and achieved major importance; Daniel Defoe speaks of the clouds of smoke being visible for miles, while a witness in 1743 mentions two hundred boiling-pans. Glass manufacturing was begun by Isaac Cookson in 1650 and there were eight glass works by 1827. Coal mining and chemical manufacture also became important. South Shields had the largest alkali works in the world.

In 1644, Cromwell's Scots allies under Colonel Stewart captured the fort on the site of Arbeia.

Turner made an engraving of Shields on the River Tyne in 1823. This is now in Tate Britain in London. He also painted Keelmen Hauling Coals by Night in 1835, having himself rowed out into the Tyne at Jarrow Slake in order to do so.

The town became famous for its maritime industries and the Marine School was founded by Dr Thomas Winterbottom in 1837. Originally in Ocean Road, it is now part of South Tyneside College in Westoe Village, and has an international reputation. It possesses the nationally unique combined public observatory and planetarium, which has provided education and entertainment for twenty thousand children a year.

The world's first self-righting lifeboat was designed and built in South Shields by William Wouldhave.

South Shields was able to elect an MP after the Great Reform Act of 1832 and was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1850 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. It became a county borough in 1889 with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, and remained as such until 1974 when it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside in the County of Tyne and Wear.

King Street is South Shields' main shopping street and is open to pedestrians only. The Metro station can be seen above the street.

The Shields Gazette, founded in 1881, is the oldest provincial evening newspaper in the country.

The impressive Town Hall of 1910 bears a copper weather vane in the form of a lifeboat. The town's crest (pre-1974) featured the lifeboat and the associated motto - Always Ready - which was later adopted as the motto of South Tyneside.

Zeppelin airships raided the Tyne in World War I and the town's seafront amusement park was attacked in 1915. In World War II, South Shields suffered well over 200 air raid alerts and 156 people were killed. Many houses were damaged, particularly by incendiary bombs and parachute mines. One direct hit on the market place killed more than 40 people who had taken shelter in tunnels below the square. There was a memorial to them in the form of a cobbled Union Flag on the ground of the market square, however this was removed as part of an overhaul of the town centre in the late 1990s.

In 1977 the town was visited by boxer Mohammed Ali, whose wedding was blessed in the local mosque. The visit has since been the subject of a BBC documentary. Ali visited the town after receiving an invitation from a local boys' boxing club.^[1]

[edit] Regional identity

The 1998 sculpture Spirit of South Shields, by Irene Brown, embodies the town's maritime heritage. It overlooks the mouth of the Tyne.

Most residents of South Shields also identify themselves as "Geordie", a term commonly associated with all residents of North East England. There is no consensus as to the true ambit of the expression. Some natives of the region consider it applies only to those born on Tyneside, whilst others go further still and claim that only those who were born or live north of the River Tyne are in fact Geordies.

A less commonly used colloquial term, specifically for people from South Shields, is Sandancer (sometimes written as Sand-Dancer or Sanddancer). The term is widely presumed to originate from the town's attractive beach and its large Yemeni population. The Sand-dance was a popular music-hall act that parodied Egyptian and Arab culture as it was understood in Britain at the time. The term is sometimes considered to be pejorative.

[edit] People

[edit] Famous residents (past and present)

Sandhaven Beach

A full list of famous residents of South Shields can be found here.

[edit] Yemeni community

South Shields has been home to a Yemeni community since the 1890s. The main reason for the Yemeni arrival was the supply of seamen, such as engine room firemen, to British merchant vessels. Similar communities were founded in Hull, Liverpool and Cardiff.^[2] In 1909, the first Arab Seaman's Boarding House opened in the Holborn riverside district of the town. At the time of the First World War there was a shortage of crews due to the demands of the fighting and many Yemenis were recruited to serve on British ships at the port of Aden, then under British protection. At the end of the war, the Yemeni population of South Shields had swelled to around 3000.

Disputes over jobs led to resentment that would fuel one of the first race riots in the UK in 1919. In 1930 a dispute broke out over working practices which the Yemeni seamen felt to be discriminatory, which led to a further rioting. However, over time attitudes to Yemenis in the town were softened and their was no significant recurrence of this violence.^[3]

After World War II, the Yemeni population declined, partly due to migrations to industrial areas such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Sheffield.^[4] Today, the Yemeni population of South Shields numbers around 1000.^[5]

[edit] Football

South Shields FC is the town's main football team. Originally formed during the first decade of the twentieth century, the team played in the Football League during the 1920s, when the world record transfer was held by the team. In 1922, Warney Cresswell moved from South Shields to Sunderland AFC for a then-world record fee of £5,500. The record was not broken again for three years. Later in the 1920s, the team folded and moved to Gateshead.

The team reformed and played in various leagues until it became a founding members of what was to become the Unibond League. In 1974 the Progressive councillor Jim Leighton sold Simonside Hall and again moved the side to Gateshead.

A new side was formed from the ashes and competed successfully in the Northern Alliance and Wearside League before finally gaining promotion to the Northern League. Since then Shields have been promoted and relegated within the league but as of 28 October 2006 are top of the second division and are expected to progress much further through the football pyramid.

[edit] Politics

South Shields is a safe Labour Party Parliamentary seat, currently held by cabinet minister David Miliband,who is currently Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He is seen by some as a prospective future leader of the Labour Party.^[6]

South Shields has never elected a Conservative MP and is the only seat in the country not to have done so.^[7]

The local authority (South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council) is also controlled by Labour.

The town also has a local independent political party, the Progressives. This broadly centre-right party was formed in the 1950s to address hostility towards the Conservative Party. The Progressives have no representation beyond South Shields. Having controlled the old County Borough of South Shields council until 1974, they still hold several seats on the borough council and have experienced a resurgence in recent years.

[edit] Public transport

The Tyne and Wear Metro links South Shields to Newcastle and Sunderland city centres, and Newcastle Airport. There is a Metro station in South Shields town centre (on King Street), with further stations at Chichester, Tyne Dock and Brockley Whins. A new station is planned for Simonside.^[8]

There is a pedestrian ferry service connecting the town to North Shields, on the opposite bank of the Tyne.

South Shields bus operations are operated by both Stagecoach North East and Go North East. Local bus routes are planned to interchange with the Metro. Buses operate as far as Washington and Durham City.