Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SHIELDS (North)

SHIELDS (North), a town, a township, two chapelries, and a sub-district, in Tynemouth parish and district, Northumberland. The town stands on the river Tyne, and on the Newcastle and Tynemonth railway, opposite South Shields, 1 mile W by N of Tyne bar, nominally 1 mile W of Tynemouth town, but actually contiguous to it, and 7 E by N of Newcastle; originated in the time of Edward I.; suffered devastation by the plague in 1635; was refounded by Oliver Cromwell; did not become more than a mere village, consisting chiefly of "shiels'' or mean huts, till about the end of last century; made then a start toward the condition of a thriving town; extends now about a mile along the river; occupies not only North Shields township, but also much of the townships of Preston, Chirton, and Tynemouth; is all included in Tynemouth borough; consists of older and newer sections, or lower and upper; is a head port, a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place; and has a head post-office,‡ several receiving post-offices and postal pillar-boxes, a r. station with telegraph, a magnetic telegraph office, four banking offices, six chief inns, a town hall, with court-house and other public offices, built in 1844-1868, a custom-house, a mechanics' institute built in 1858, assembly-rooms, a theatre, a subscription library, baths and wash-houses built in 1854, three churches, nine dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, two public cemeteries, national, British, and denominational schools, jubilee schools, a sailors' home, a master-mariners' asylum built in 1838 at a cost of more than £5,000, a dispensary, and other institutions. The older or lower part consists of narrow streets contiguous to the river, and not unlike Wapping in London; but the newer or upper part consists of spacious and well built streets, with some open places, and is reached from certain points of the lower town by upwards of 100 stone steps. Trinity church was built in 1836, at a cost of nearly £4,000; is in the pointed style; and had an octagonal lantern which was taken down in 1868. St. Peter's church was built in 1864, and is in the early English style. The United Presbyterian church was built in 1811. The Lutheran church was built in 1868.

A weekly market is held on Saturday; and fairs on the last Friday of Apriland the first Friday of Nov. The manufacture of chain-cables, anchors, windlasses, sail-cloth, cordage, masts, blocks, malt liquors, salt, tobacco, earthenware, and tiles is carried on. Ship-building and iron-founding also are carried on. The commerce is various, but bulks most in the export of coal and iron. The harbour serves equally for South Shields; is 1½ mile long; and, at ordinary tides, has sufficient depth for vessels of 2,000 tons burden. A spacious quay serves for the loading of vessels of 300 tons: and the Northumberland dock, with a water-area of 49 acres, is 1¼ mile to the WSW. One lighthouse, with fixed light 77 feet high, stands close to the shore at the Narrows; another, with a light 133 feet high, stands at Dockwray-square, and leads over the bar; and another, with a revolving light 154 feet high, stands on a cliff, outside the river's mouth, near Tynemouth Castle. Clifford fort, built in 1672, is situated immediately below the Narrows; and the Spanish battery is situated on Freestone point, opposite Tyne bar. A harbour of refuge, to cost £750,000, was recently contemplated. The vessels registered at the port, at the beginning of 1864, were, for North Shields, 22 small sailing-vessels of aggregately 639 tons, 640 large sailing-vessels of aggregate1y 178,519 tons, 129 small steam-vessels of aggregately 2,271 tons, and 2 large steam-vessels of jointly 515 tons; and, for South Shields, 7 small sailing-vessels of aggregately 258 tons, 307 large sailing-vessels of aggregately 88,442 tons, and 18 small steam-vessels of aggregately 286 tons. The vessels registered in 1867 were 727, of aggregately 173,357 tons. The vessels which entered in 1863 were 23 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 11,105 tons, from British colonies; 4 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggregately 1,269 tons, from British colonies; 756 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 152,410 tons, from foreign countries; 356 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggre gately 42,342 tons, from foreign countries; 8 British steam-vessels, of aggregately 3,678 tons, from foreign countries; 547 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 68,058 tons, coastwise; and 50 steam-vessels, of aggregately 18,423 tons, coast-wise. The vessls which cleared in 1863 were 26 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 10,739 tons, to British colonies; 680 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 113,063 tons, to foreign countries; 229 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggregately 19,406 tons, to foreign countries; 17 British steam-vessels, of aggregately 6,115 tons, to foreign countries; 2 foreign steam-vessels, of jointly 471 tons, to foreign countries; 808 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 74,203 tons, coastwise; and 67 steam-vessels, of aggregately 19,738 tons, coastwise. The amount of customs in 1867 was £35,856. Steamboat ferries connect North Shields with South Shields; river steamers ply plentifully to Newcastle; and seaborne steamers go regularly to London. The pop. of the town is not separately returned, but forms the greater part of that of Tynemouth borough; and this was 34,021 in 1861.-The township comprises 1,018 acres. Pop. in 1851, 8,882; in 1861, 9,595,-of whom 1,471 were persons on board vessels. Houses, 891.-The chapelries are Trinity and St. Peter, and were constituted in 1861 and 1864. The livings are vicarages in the diocese of Durham. Value of each, £200.* Patron of both, the Duke of Northumberland. -The sub-district comprises the townships of North Shields, Preston, Murton, and Chirton. Acres, 3,733. Pop. in 1851, 14,324; in 1861, 17,138. Houses, 2,339.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, two chapelries, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: North Shields CP/Tn       Tynemouth RegD/PLU       Northumberland AncC
Place names: NORTH SHIELDS     |     SHIELDS     |     SHIELDS NORTH
Place: North Shields

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