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New page: Gateshead is a town and municipal borough in north-east England, on the south bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, to which is connected by several bridges. Gat...
Gateshead is a town and municipal borough in north-east [[England]], on the south bank of the [[River Tyne]] opposite [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], to which is connected by several bridges. Gateshead has a long history, being mentioned by [[Bede]] (as ''ad caput caprae'', 'at the headland of the goats') but has always been overshadowed by its northern neighbour. Newcastle's lordship over the River Tyne up to 1850 curtailed the ability of other riverside settlements, including Gateshead, to grow.
The town began to expand in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The main industries were the mining of coal, the manufacture of rope (for shipping and mining purposes), chemicals manufacture, and the manufacture and maintenance of railway locomotives at the [[North Eastern Railway]]'s works. In the early twentieth century the NER works was transferred to [[Darlington]] and local mining was in sharp decline. Gateshead entered upon a century of economic depression.
In his 1934 work ''English Journey'' [[J.B. Priestley]] described Gateshead: "If there is any town of like size on the continent of Europe that can show a similar lack of civic dignity and all the evidence of an urban civilization, I should like to know its name and quality. No true civilization could have produced such a town, which is nothing better than a huge dingy dormitory".
In 1992 the second of a series of Garden Festivals promoted by the Conservative government minister [[Michael Heseltine]] and intended to stimulate regeneration was held at Gateshead (the first was in Liverpool; others were held at [[Stoke on Trent]] and [[Merthyr Tydfil]]). Although enjoyed by large crowds, it failed to have the intended long term catalytic effect.
Sources:
J.B. Priestley, ''English Journey'' (1934)
The town began to expand in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The main industries were the mining of coal, the manufacture of rope (for shipping and mining purposes), chemicals manufacture, and the manufacture and maintenance of railway locomotives at the [[North Eastern Railway]]'s works. In the early twentieth century the NER works was transferred to [[Darlington]] and local mining was in sharp decline. Gateshead entered upon a century of economic depression.
In his 1934 work ''English Journey'' [[J.B. Priestley]] described Gateshead: "If there is any town of like size on the continent of Europe that can show a similar lack of civic dignity and all the evidence of an urban civilization, I should like to know its name and quality. No true civilization could have produced such a town, which is nothing better than a huge dingy dormitory".
In 1992 the second of a series of Garden Festivals promoted by the Conservative government minister [[Michael Heseltine]] and intended to stimulate regeneration was held at Gateshead (the first was in Liverpool; others were held at [[Stoke on Trent]] and [[Merthyr Tydfil]]). Although enjoyed by large crowds, it failed to have the intended long term catalytic effect.
Sources:
J.B. Priestley, ''English Journey'' (1934)