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Posted: Monday 17 August 2009
North East Associates
Tyne Cruise
- Thursday 13th August -
Today, Thursday 13th August 2009, is a day of memories from several periods.
They first go back to 1948 when pupils from West Jesmond Junior School, to the north of Newcastle city, embarked on a school outing. First we walked the quarter mile to the North Road - then the A1 - and climbed aboard a brand new trolleybus in Corporation yellow-and-cream livery - these replacing tramcars - for the two-mile journey to Newcastle Central Station. From there we walked down to the quayside, a busy cargo port, and boarded a rather ramshackle river ferry boat for a trip on the Tyne. The only other memory is of the size of the ships, towering high above us.
How the words of Jimmy Nail's "Big River" start to ring true.
Today, we come to town by train and then continue our journey to the quayside, but this time in a bus, yes - a yellow one - but now a special hybrid electric vehicle. The "we" this time is NE Associates, and the number of us on the bus would have you think that this summer excursion has already started!
Waiting for us on the river is the MV Latis, a vessel purpose built for river work, and a private charter for us on a cruise to the river mouth and back. Gone are the dock cranes and the ships - Newcastle quayside is where the north-east parties now!
Casting off we turn upstream to enjoy the dramatic view of all seven bridges linking Newcastle and Gateshead across the river.
First is the Gateshead Millennium Bridge (2001) which is raised just for us.
The remaining six bridges are in view. In this area sits the Sage Music Centre on the left bank and the new Law Courts on the Newcastle side to the north.
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The Sage - self pixelating!
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The Law Courts
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In the river this is the point where in the winter of 1955/56
a freighter sank
after a collision,
with great deliberation about how to raise her
- and the press soon making
a bigger story about
some excisable items being found but apparently not declared.
Times don't change!
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We turn again and head downstream, the Millennium Bridge being lowered behind us, allowing the waiting crowds to cross.
Just in from the north side
here was the site of
Thomas Hedley's
Newcastle (City Road) Factory,
the UK business bought by P&G about 80 years ago
and the start of it all for us.
Long gone now.
Many of us on the boat today had worked there.
(Pictured in 1977)
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Had we been able to continue upstream we would have also negotiated, in quick succession, the Tyne Bridge (1928), the Swing Bridge (1876), the High Level Bridge (1849), the QEII Metro Bridge (1981), the King Edward VII railway bridge (1906), and last the Redheugh road bridge (the third on this site, 1983).
Oh, how we dreaded the sound of the Swing Bridge hooter just before finishing time, traffic being held up again!
A Company distribution warehouse was located beside the river near the High Level Bridge until the mid sixties - not a pleasant place to be in summer when the tide was out!
River water quality now makes the Tyne one of the best salmon rivers in the country.
In July 2008 an eighth bridge appeared among the others for a while in the form of a bamboo sculpture - why?
Back on the north side is a CWS building - now a hotel - and fairly close is the site of another Co-op warehouse, a quality brick building which was full of hydraulic machinery powered by a large horizontal steam engine until its last. Bought by you-know-who - a comment at the time suggested that the vaulted basement would be ideal as a location for "The Avengers" - the building was subsequently demolished and the land used for a car park. This resulted in the demise of railway operations serving the warehouse and quayside area. The steam engine was donated to a local museum but does not seem to have been put on show yet.
The Malmaison Hotel
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The Baltic Centre
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One morning in the seventies we arrived at work to see over the river a twisted mass of steelwork where the Rank flour mill had been destroyed by fire overnight. Production never resumed. Attached to this was a large grain silo which also remained disused until it was turned into the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
Continuing, smart apartments line the riverside where old corrugated iron warehouses once stood and we reach the now-closed and part demolished Spiller's flour mill.
Where have all the shipyards gone? There were lots more of these than flour mills!
Landscaped river banks exist where some of the world's largest and most famous ships were built at Walker, Wallsend, and Hebburn.
The remains of a slipway - big ships were built here.
Wallsend's main claim to fame now is in its name. On the site of what was part of the Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson yard is the Roman fort of Segedunum, built here at the eastern end of Emperor Hadrian's wall.
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We reach this after passing
the derelict site of the
locally famous "Neptune" yard.
George Atkinson, a City Road automech,
pictured left and a passenger today
served his apprenticeship at the Neptune Yard!
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A modern visitor centre in the form of a centurion's helmet appears to stand guard over the Roman excavations.
Swan's yard and Segedunum
Most marine engineering works have gone although some rig building and refurbishment is done here.
One site is being used to make concrete caissons for a second Tyne Tunnel, now being built parallel to the single bore of the sixties. The "new" will be these concrete sections lowered into a channel cut into the river bed. Roll-on 2012 when the new will be open and the old refurbished along with schemes to improve traffic flow at each end.
Preparing for the second road tunnel at Jarrow
Let's not forget the two tunnels opened in 1951 for pedestrians and cyclists, with escalators 200ft long providing the equivalent of an 85ft vertical lift.
These escalators were the longest in the world at the time, built to accommodate bicycles as well as people, and are still possibly the longest in Britain.
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Alice in nautical mode
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Most of the area's famous names have gone from along the course of the river - Vickers-Armstrong for armaments, engineering and ships - Parsons, of Turbinia fame, for marine turbines - Hawthorn for steam locomotives - Hawthorn-Leslie for marine diesels - Palmers for shipbuilding - Marconi for radar systems - P&G . . . .
One dry dock remains, today with a Sea France vehicle ferry behind the gate.
A most unexpected encounter
Where have all the ships gone?
At last we come to some port activity.
Large slab-sided car carrying vessels appear regularly at the Nissan wharf - none today though - with some general cargo-handling facilities nearby.
We then see a commercial quay, scrap metal for export and coal. This was a river famous for coal - there were several large coaling plants, all long gone, from which the black stuff, brought by rail from Co. Durham & Northumberland collieries was "teemed" into ships, a lot going to London power stations. King coal, however, is a Tyne cargo again, now being imported for power station use!
Next a rig repair operation - these must be one of the ugliest bits of kit designed and produced by man.
Opposite is the Port of Tyne passenger terminal, visited frequently by cruise liners heading for Norway or the Baltic ports and daily by an overnight passenger and vehicle ferry service linking with IJmuiden (Amsterdam) in Holland. At 31,395 grt the vessel we see today with its twelve decks towers above us.
As we are low down in the water it is sometimes difficult to see what is past the riverbank so included are a few pictures taken the day before from high up on the DFDS ferry.
Typical is the view of the roof of the "Earl of Zetland", a floating restaurant which is seen next at its permanent mooring in the Albert Edward dock, now a marina.
Ship repair yards lined both sides of the river here, and these are seen today in states between derelict and developed, as the sites are slowly being transformed for housing and leisure.
An example is the old Smith's Dock site in North Shields.
Now to the only remaining river ferry service, for pedestrians and cyclists between South Shields and North Shields, encountered just before we pass the fish quay, the Tynemouth lifeboat, and some historical buildings as we enter into the harbour area between the piers.
Oh, by the way South Shields has a hidden treasure also not visible from the water.
Arbeia Roman Fort and military supply base.
To the harbour bar we go and turn.
For our journey downstream we were given an informative commentary by John North, a registered guide and one of a few raconteurs who accompany these trips.
I have not tried to repeat what was said.
On-board also we've enjoyed a buffet lunch and made very good use of the bar service.
Now it's upstream for the ten miles back to Newcastle quayside without commentary, and without any more from me!
ph 17/08/2009
pictures: jec & ph
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