County in England
Tyne and Wear
A county that gave the world the steam turbine, the light bulb's rival story and a Roman wall's final stop, all within a few miles of one river.
Key information
- County
- Tyne and Wear
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 1.14 million, 2021 Census
- Known for
- Shipbuilding, the Tyne bridges, Angel of the North, Hadrian's Wall's eastern end
- What locals are called
- Geordies (Tyneside), Mackems (Sunderland), Smoggies (Teesside is elsewhere, so not used here)
- Famous people
- Joseph Swan, Charles Parsons, Cheryl, Sting
- Football clubs
- Newcastle United, Sunderland, Gateshead
About Tyne and Wear
The county where the lightbulb had a rival story
Long before most homes had electricity, Sunderland-born Joseph Swan was demonstrating an incandescent lamp in Newcastle. In 1879 he showed it to a packed audience at the Literary and Philosophical Society, and in 1880 Newcastle's Mosley Street became one of the first streets in the world lit by electric bulbs. Swan's home at Low Fell, Gateshead, was among the first in the world wired for electric light. That inventive streak runs right through the area. William Armstrong built hydraulic cranes, guns and ships at Elswick, and his country-house Cragside in Northumberland was powered by hydroelectricity. Charles Parsons, working on Tyneside, produced the steam turbine, then stunned onlookers in 1897 when his turbine-driven Turbinia raced uninvited through the fleet review at Spithead, outpacing the navy's fastest vessels.
Ships, coal and the river that built it
Tyne and Wear is named for two rivers, and both did heavy lifting. The Tyne was lined with shipyards, and the Wear at Sunderland was once said to be turning out more ships than any other river in the world. Sunderland's yards launched thousands of vessels over the centuries, while Tyneside built warships and liners, including the Mauretania at Wallsend in 1906. Coal was the other engine. Pits fed ships and railways, and Newcastle's coal trade was so famous that the phrase "carrying coals to Newcastle" became shorthand for pointless effort. Railway history is local too: George Stephenson's Killingworth experiments and the Newcastle works that made his locomotives helped shape the modern railway. The shipyards and mines are now largely gone, but the river's industrial muscle is still visible in the cranes, the quaysides and the sheer size of the bridges.
Seven bridges and one very large angel
Few cities pack their river crossings together like Newcastle and Gateshead. The High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson and opened in 1849, carries trains above and road traffic below. The Tyne Bridge, opened in 1928, is the one on the postcards, and the arch design made it a cousin of Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was built by the same firm, Dorman Long. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, opened in 2001, tilts like a blinking eye to let ships pass. Beside it, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art occupies a former flour mill, and The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, known until 2023 as Sage Gateshead, glitters across the water as a music venue. Then there is Antony Gormley's Angel of the North, finished in 1998 beside the A1 at Gateshead. Its wings span 54 metres, and it stands about 20 metres tall. Locals were far from united when it was announced, but it quickly became the area's best-loved symbol.
Geordies, Mackems and who is who
Call someone from Newcastle a Geordie and they will answer happily. People from Sunderland are Mackems, a name often explained by the old shipyard saying that they "make 'em" and then Tyneside "takes 'em". The rivalry between the two is fierce, and football is where it burns hottest. The Tyne–Wear derby pits Newcastle United, the Magpies of St James' Park, against Sunderland, the Black Cats, now of the Stadium of Light. Newcastle's stadium rises over the city centre, and its legend includes Jackie Milburn and Alan Shearer, who scored more Premier League goals for the club than anyone else. Gateshead, South Shields and others fly the flag lower down the pyramid. The dialect is rich in words that outsiders love to puzzle over: "howay" for come on, "canny" for good, "bairn" for child, "hinny" as a term of affection.
Stottie cake, pease pudding and a very big Saturday night
The local food is hearty. A stottie is a flat, dense round loaf, often stuffed with ham and pease pudding, a bright yellow spread made from split peas. Pan haggerty, a layered dish of potato, onion and cheese, is another Tyneside favourite, and Greggs, born in Newcastle, started life here as a bakery before spreading to every high street. Newcastle is also famous for its nightlife, with Bigg Market and the Quayside giving the city a reputation for a lively weekend. Newcastle Brown Ale, known as "the Dog", was first brewed in 1927 and became a Tyneside institution. The Great North Run, which starts in Newcastle and finishes at South Shields, was first run in 1981 and has become among the world's biggest half marathons.
Where the Roman wall runs out
The Roman frontier ended on Tyneside. Segedunum, at Wallsend, marks the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall, and visitors can climb a viewing tower over the excavated fort. South Shields has its own Roman fort at Arbeia, where a reconstructed gateway shows what it looked like. The coast carries older stories too. Tynemouth Priory crowns a headland above a long sweep of sand, while the Venerable Bede, the monk who wrote the first English history, lived and worked at Jarrow in the seventh and eighth centuries. His monastery at Jarrow and its twin at Monkwearmouth in Sunderland are among the cradles of English learning. That mix of Roman soldiers, Anglo-Saxon scholars, Victorian engineers and modern artists is why Tyne and Wear feels so layered.