Tynemouth
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Image:Tynemouthbeach09042004.JPGTynemouth 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.
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 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 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.
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. The Volunteer Life Brigade Museum based in the Watch House high on the cliff top overlooking the sea is fascinating. It has an eery atmosphere and a collection of strange artefacts relating to ship wrecks and the sea.
Tynemouth's 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 Front Street is home to several pubs and restaurants and is a popular evening destination for people in the region.
Notable Tynemouth Residents
Harriet Martineau Novelist and journalist lived at 57 Front Street for some five years 1840-45. Her eminent visitors included Richard Cobden and Thomas Carlyle
Sam Lamiroy British surfing champion
Many of the books of prize-winning children's author Robert Westall are set in Tynemouth.
Tynemouth Festivals
Fish Quay Festival
Each year, Tynemouth and nearby North Shields play host to the Fish Quay Fstival, 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. Due to extensive regeneration work the festival will not take place in 2006.
Mouth Of Tyne Festival (MOTFest)
Starting in 2005 and coninuing annually, this festival expands upon the Fish Quay Festival. It is staged in Tynemouth and South Shields on the opposite bank of the Tyne. To cope with the cancellation of the Fish Quay festival, 2006's MOTFest will include live world music, cultural performances, processions and a pyrotechnic show, as well as art displays.
Tynemouth Pageant
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.