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or Newcastle upon Tyne (tīn) A borough of northeast England on the Tyne River north of Leeds. Built on the site of a Roman military station, it became a coal-shipping port in the 13th century and was the principal center for coal exports after the 16th century. Its prominence in the trade gave rise to the expression to carry coals to Newcastle, meaning “to do something superfluous or unnecessary.” Population: 189,000.
For more information on Newcastle upon Tyne, visit Britannica.com.
A city and port in Northumberland, and the administrative and commercial centre of north-east England. Its urban history starts abruptly with a ‘New Castle’ begun by Robert, the Conqueror's son, in 1080, and a borough planted at its gate. Its growing importance was based on coal exports, controlled by the wealthy and powerful Company of Hostmen. Coal-exporting rose further in the 18th cent., followed by shipbuilding and engineering in the 19th; in the 20th it has become part of a huge conurbation straddling the river Tyne.
The city rests on the site of the Roman military station Pons Aelii, at Hadrian's Wall. Later the site was occupied by the Angles until the Norman conquest. In 1080, Robert II, duke of Normandy and eldest son of William the Conqueror, had a fortified castle built (from which Newcastle takes its name). The castle was besieged and repaired several times; the oldest remaining parts date from 1177. The city walls, of which traces and towers remain, are attributed to Edward I. For 10 months in 1646, Charles I was a prisoner in Newcastle.
The Cathedral of St. Nicholas dates partly from the 14th cent. Other notable old buildings include Trinity Almshouse (1492) and the Royal Grammar School, founded in the 16th cent. Among the many educational institutions are the Univ. of Newcastle upon Tyne, formerly King's College.
The country code is: 44
The city code is: 1632
| Newcastle upon Tyne | |
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  Newcastle upon Tyne shown within Tyne and Wear |
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| Population | 259,536 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Metropolitan borough | Newcastle City Council |
| Metropolitan county | Tyne and Wear |
| Region | North East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Postcode district | NE1-NE7, NE12-NE20 |
| Dialling code | |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Tyne and Wear |
| Ambulance | North East |
| UK Parliament | Newcastle upon Tyne Central |
| Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend | |
| Newcastle upon Tyne North | |
| Tyne Bridge | |
| European Parliament | North East England |
| List of places: UK • England • Tyne and Wear | |
Newcastle upon Tyne (usually shortened to Newcastle) is a large city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north bank of the River Tyne and was formerly the county town of Northumberland.[1] The city was founded in Roman times under the name Pons Aelius.
The city is the 20th most populous in England; the larger Tyneside conurbation, of which Newcastle forms part, is the 5th most populous conurbation in England.[2] Newcastle is a member of the English Core Cities Group[3] and (with Gateshead) the Eurocities network of European cities[4].
People from Newcastle and surrounding areas are commonly called Geordies. The Latin term Novocastrian, which can equally be applied to residents of any place called Newcastle, is usually only used for ex-pupils of the city's Royal Grammar School.[5]
The first settlement in what is now Newcastle was Pons Aelius, designating the bridge across the Tyne and given the family name of the Roman Emperor Hadrian who founded it in the 2nd century AD. The population of Pons Aelius at this period was estimated at 2,000. Hadrian's Wall is still visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road. (The course of the "Roman Wall" can also be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort in Wallsend - the wall's end).
After the Roman withdrawal from Britain, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, and was known throughout this period as Monkchester. After a series of conflicts with the Danes and the devastation north of the River Tyne inflicted by Odo of Bayeux after the 1080 rebellion against the Normans, Monkchester was all but destroyed. Because of its strategic position, Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle there in 1080 and the town was henceforth known as Novum Castellum or New Castle.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress. A stone wall 25 ft high was built around the town in the 13th century, to defend it from invaders during the Border war against Scotland. The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle in 1174, and Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town. Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century, and around this time became a county corporate.
From 1530 a royal act restricted all shipments of coal from Tyneside to Newcastle quayside, giving a monopoly in the coal trade to a cartel of Newcastle burgesses known as the Hostmen. This monopoly, which lasted for a considerable time, helped Newcastle prosper, but it had its impact on the growth of near-neighbours Sunderland, causing a Tyneside and a Wearside rivalry that still exists. In the Sandgate area, to the east of the city and beside the river, resided the close-knit community of keelmen and their families. They were so called because they worked on the keels, boats that were used to transfer coal from the river banks to the waiting colliers, for export to London and elsewhere. During the English Civil War, Newcastle supported the king and in 1644 was stormed ('with roaring drummes') by Cromwell's Scots allies, based in pro-Parliament Sunderland. The grateful King bestowed the motto "Fortiter Defendit Triumphans" ("Triumphing by a brave defence") upon the town. Ironically, Charles was imprisoned in Newcastle by the Scots in 1646-7.
In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages, predated the London Library by half a century. Newcastle also became the greatest glass producer in the world.
Newcastle's development as a major city, however, owed most to its central role in the export of coal. The phrase taking coals to Newcastle was first recorded in 1538. In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the development of safety lamps, Stephenson's Rocket, Lord Armstrong's artillery, Be-Ro flour, Joseph Swan's electric light bulbs, and Charles Parsons' invention of the steam turbine, which led to the revolution of marine propulsion and the production of cheap electricity.
Heavy industries in Newcastle declined in the second half of the 20th century; office and retail employment are now the city's staples.
The city has an extensive neoclassical centre, largely developed in the 1830s by Richard Grainger and John Dobson, and recently extensively restored. Grey Street, which curves down from Grey's Monument towards the valley of the River Tyne, was voted as England's finest street in 2005 in a survey of BBC Radio 4 listeners. A portion of Grainger Town was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Eldon Square Shopping Centre, including all but one side of the original Eldon Square itself.
Immediately to the northwest of the city centre is Leazes Park, established in 1873 after a petition by 3,000 working men of the city for "ready access to some open ground for the purpose of health and recreation". Just outside one corner of this is St James' Park, the stadium home of Newcastle United F.C. which dominates the view of the city from all directions.
Another green space in Newcastle is the vast Town Moor, lying immediately north of the city centre. It is larger than
The wooded gorge of the Ouseburn in the east of the city is known as Jesmond Dene and forms another popular recreation area, linked by Armstrong Park and Heaton Park to the Ouseburn Valley, where the river finally reaches the River Tyne.
Newcastle was voted as the Best City in the North in April 2007 by The Daily Telegraph newspaper - beating Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds in an online poll conducted of its readers. [6]
The development of the city in the 1960s and 1970s saw the demolition of part of Grainger Town as a prelude to the modernist rebuilding initiatives of T. Dan Smith, the leader of Newcastle City Council. A corruption scandal was uncovered involving Smith and John Poulson, a property developer, and both were jailed. Echoes of the scandal were revisited in the late 1990s in the BBC TV mini-series, Our Friends in the North.
The Tyne Gorge between Newcastle on the north bank and Gateshead (an administratively
separate borough) on the south bank, is famous for a series of dramatic bridges, including the Tyne
Bridge of 1928 and
Notable Newcastle housing developments include Ralph Erskine's the Byker Wall designed in the 1960s and now Grade II-listed. It is on UNESCO's list of outstanding 20th century buildings.
Newcastle's thriving Chinatown lies in the north-west of Grainger Town, centred on Stowell Street. A new Chinese arch, or paifang, providing a landmark entrance, was handed over to the city with a ceremony in 2005.
The UK's first biotechnology village, the "Centre for Life" is located in the city centre close to the Newcastle Central railway station. The village is the first step in the City Council's plans to transform Newcastle into a science city.[7]
Newcastle is situated in the North East of England, in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear and the historical and traditional county of Northumberland. The city itself is located on the northern bank of the River Tyne at a latitude of 54.974° N and a longitude of 1.614° W.
The geology of the area is most famous for its large deposits of coal. Whilst the local bedrock consists mainly of carboniferous rocks, millstone grit and oolite are also present.
The climate in Newcastle is temperate, although significantly warmer than some other locations at a similar latitude due to the warming influence of the Gulf Stream (via the North Atlantic Drift). Being in the rain shadow of the North Pennines, it is among the driest cities in the UK. The prevailing winds are south-westerly due to the North Atlantic Current.
Newcastle is governed using the leader and cabinet system, and the executive is currently Liberal Democrat, as they have 48 councillors against the Labour Party's 30. No other parties hold seats on the city's council. [1]
For the purposes of City Council elections, Newcastle is divided into 26 electoral wards. [2]
According to the UK Government's 2001 census,[8] the city of Newcastle has a population of 189,863, whereas the unitary authority of Newcastle has a population of around 259,500. However, the metropolitan boroughs of North Tyneside (population c.190,000), South Tyneside (population c. 150,000) and Gateshead (population c.200,000) are also part of the Tyneside conurbation, giving the Newcastle-Gateshead metropolitan area a population of 799,000. According to the same statistics, the average age of people living in Newcastle is 37.8 (the national average being 38.6). 93.1% of the population are of white British ethnic background (the national average being 91.3%). Many people in the city have Scottish and Irish ancestors. There is a strong presence of Border Reiver surnames, such as Armstrong, Robson, Charlton, Kerr, Elliot, Hall etc. Other ethnic groups in Newcastle, in order of population size, are Pakistani at 1.9% and Indians at 1.2%. There are also small but significant Chinese and Jewish populations.
The city is largely Christian at 70.6%, with a small percentage of other religions. A large number (16%) have no religion.
Newcastle has two cathedrals, the Anglican
St. Nicholas, with its elegant lantern tower of 1474, and the Roman Catholic St. Mary's,
designed by Augustus Welby Pugin. Both cathedrals began their lives as
parish churches. St Mary's became a cathedral in 1850 and St Nicholas' in 1882. Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster (1976-1999) was born in the city in 1923. A statue of the Cardinal
(unveiled by the Queen in 2002) stands outside St Mary's Cathedral in a memorial garden dedicated to the religious leader.
Newcastle was a promient centre of the
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has one of the lowest mortality rates in the country and is ranked second in the country for confidence in doctors.[citation needed] Newcastle has three large teaching hospitals: the Royal Victoria Infirmary, the Newcastle General Hospital and the Freeman Hospital, which amongst other things, performs transplant surgery.
In a report, published in early February 2007 by the Ear Institute at the University College London, and Widex, a Danish hearing aid manufacturer, Newcastle was named as the noisiest city in the whole of the UK, with an average level of 80.4 decibels. The report claimed that these noise levels would have a negative long-term impact on the health of the city's residents.[9] The report was criticised, however, for attaching too much weight to readings at arbitrarily selected locations, which in Newcastle's case included a motorway underpass without pedestrian access.[10]
Newcastle Central railway station is a principal stop on the
East Coast Main Line and Cross Country
Route. The station was the first covered railway station in the world and was much copied across the UK. It has a fine
neoclassical frontage originally designed by the architect John Dobson and was constructed in collaboration with
Today, train operator GNER provides a half-hourly frequency of trains to London, with a journey time of a little less than three hours. National Express will take over the East Coast Main Line franchise in December 2007.[13] Virgin Trains, Northern Rail and TransPennine Express operate regular services to many other destinations.
Major roads in the area include the A1 (Gateshead Newcastle western-bypass), stretching north/south between London and Edinburgh; the A19 heading south past Sunderland and Middlesbrough to York and Doncaster; the A69 heading west to Carlisle; the A167 the old Great North Road heading south to Gateshead, Chester-le-Street, Durham and Darlington; and the A1058 "coast road" which runs from Jesmond to the east coast between Tynemouth and Cullercoats. Many of these designations are recent - upon completion of the western bypass, and its designation as the new line of the A1, the roads between this and the former line through the Tyne Tunnel were renumbered, with many city centre roads changing from a 6-prefix to their present 1-prefix numbers.
Newcastle also has access to an international Ferry Terminal, located at nearby
North Shields, offering services to destinations including Amsterdam, Kristiansand, Gothenburg,
Stavanger, Haugesund and
Newcastle and the surrounding area has an extensive bus network that is coordinated by Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive. Buses are operated mainly by Go North East, Arriva Northumbria and Stagecoach North East. QuayLink (operated by Stagecoach ), a £5 m bus scheme using ultra low emission hybrid diesel-electric vehicles was launched in July 2005.
The city is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro, a system of suburban and
underground railways. In 1904, the North Eastern Railway electrified the suburban railways serving
both banks of the Tyne and the northern suburbs, creating one of the world's first electric suburban railways. The system was transformed into the Tyne and Wear
Metro which opened in 1980, and extends as far as
The Metro is usually described as Britain's first modern light rail system. It is owned and operated by Nexus. It carries approximately 40 million passenger journeys per year and is the second biggest metropolitan train system in the UK. A Metro bridge was built across the Tyne and opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1981.[15]
Newcastle is one of the first in the UK to have its city centre covered by wireless internet access[16].
The City has a strong sporting tradition. Premier League football team Newcastle United has been based at St James' Park since the club was established in 1892.[17] The city also has two non-League football teams, Newcastle Blue Star and Newcastle Benfield who both play in the Northern Football League. Also in Newcastle are Guinness Premiership rugby union side Newcastle Falcons, for whom England player Jonny Wilkinson features.
The Metro Radio Arena is home to Newcastle Vipers ice hockey team, and Newcastle Eagles basketball team. The city's Speedway team Newcastle Diamonds are based at Brough Park in Byker, a venue that is also home to greyhound racing. Racing started at Brough Park in 1929. Newcastle Racecourse at High Gosforth Park holds regular meets, including the prestigious race for the Northumberland Plate, first run in 1838, which takes place in June each year.
Newcastle also hosts the start of the annual BUPA Great North Run, the world's largest half-marathon in which participants famously race over the Tyne Bridge into Gateshead and then towards the finish line 13.1 miles away on the coast at South Shields.[18] Another famous athletic event is the 5.7 mile Blaydon Race (a road race from Newcastle to Blaydon), which has taken place on June 9 annually since 1981, to commemorate the celebrated Blaydon Races horse racing.[19]
The city has two universities. Established as a School of Medicine and Surgery in 1834, and becoming independent from Durham University in 1963, Newcastle University is now one of the UK’s leading international universities.[20] It won the coveted Sunday Times University of the Year award in 2000.[21] Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status in 1992, becoming the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. Northumbria University, as it is currently known, was voted 'Best New University' by The Times Good University Guide 2005. The latter university also won a much coveted company award of the "Most IT enabled organisation" (in the UK), by the IT industry magazine Computing.[22][23]
There are eleven LEA-funded 11 to 18 schools and seven independent schools with sixth forms in Newcastle. The largest independent school is the Royal Grammar School located in Jesmond. There are a number of successful state schools, including Gosforth High School, Heaton Manor School, St Cuthbert's High School, Kenton Comprehensive School and Sacred Heart. Newcastle College is the largest general further education college in the North East and is a beacon status college; there are two smaller colleges in the Newcastle area.
The Geordie dialect is a Northern English dialect, with a large amount of vocabulary that does not exist in other parts of England, or other English dialects. Much of Geordie can be traced back to the Old Norse and Old English languages and certain words are similar to their equivalents in modern Norwegian.
Examples
Gannin Hyem - Going Home
Snottercloot - Hankerchief
Y'areet - You alright?
Bairns - Children
divint - Do Not
Howay - Come on!
Canny - Nice/Ok/quite
Charva - Chav
Claarts - Mud
Hynny - Honey/Darling
Aye - Yes
Deein - Doing
Gan - Go
Newcastle has a reputation for being a fun-loving city with many bars, restaurants and nightclubs. More recently, Newcastle has become popular as a destination for Stag and Hen parties. Newcastle was in the top ten of the country's top night spots,[24] and The Rough Guide to Britain placed Newcastle upon Tyne's nightlife as Great Britain's no. 1 tourist attraction.[25]
There are notable concentrations of pubs, bars and nightclubs around the Bigg Market, and the Quayside area of the city centre. There are many bars on the Bigg Market, and other popular areas for nightlife are Collingwood Street, Neville Street, the Central Station area and Osborne Road in the Jesmond area of the city. In recent years "The Gate" has opened in the city centre, a new indoor complex consisting of bars, upmarket clubs, restaurants and a 12-screen Empire multiplex cinema.[26]
Focused on the Times Square area near the Centre for Life, the "Pink Triangle" is the centre of Newcastle's gay scene and hosts many bars and pubs and two clubs.[27][28] The community has seen much expansion in the past five years, with further growth planned in the future.
The city has a wide variety of restaurants such as Italian, Indian, Persian, Japanese, Greek, Mexican, Spanish, American, Polish, Malaysian, French, Moroccan, Thai and has a Chinese village with many Chinese restaurants on Stowell Street. There has also been a growth in premium restaurants in recent years with top chefs.[29][30]
The biggest noticeable difference in the last ten years has been increased opening hours, more upmarket bars, a greater range of clubs and some of the older traditional pubs closing, although many have been revamped and remain very popular.
The city contains many theatres. The largest, the Theatre Royal on Grey Street, first opened in 1837. It has hosted a season of performances from the Royal Shakespeare Company for over 25 years, as well as touring productions of West End musicals.[31] The Journal Tyne Theatre hosts smaller touring productions, whilst other venues feature local talent. Northern Stage, formally known as the Newcastle Playhouse and Gulbenkian Studio, hosts various local, national and international productions in addition to those produced by the Northern Stage company.[32] Other theatres in the city include the Live Theatre, the People's Theatre and the Jubilee Theatre. NewcastleGateshead was voted in 2006 as the arts capital of the UK in a survey conducted by the Artsworld TV channel.[33]
In January or February, Newcastle's Chinatown is at the centre of a carnival of color and noise as the city celebrates the Chinese New Year. Attendance at the 2007 event was estimated at 15,000 by Newcastle City Council.[citation needed]
The popular Newcastle Science Festival [3] is held annually in March, coinciding with National Science and Engineering Week. The Newcastle Beer Festival, organised by CAMRA, takes place in April 2008 will be the 32nd Newcastle Beer Festival.[4]
In May, Newcastle and Gateshead host the Orange Evolution, which culminates with the FreeEvolution free music festival held on the Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides over the Spring Bank Holiday, with performances from well known and up and coming acts from the world of Rock, Indie and Dance Music. NewcastleGateshead also holds an annual International Arts Fair in May. In 2007, in its first year, attracted over 5,500 visitors with 57 visiting galleries in 3½ days.[5]. EAT! NewcastleGateshead, a festival of food and drink, ran a pilot event in April 2007 and will launch as an annual festival in May 2008.[6].
The Hoppings, reputedly the largest travelling fair in Europe, takes place on Newcastle Town Moor every June. The event had its origins in the Temperance Movement during the early 1880s and coincides with the annual race week at High Gosforth Park.
Newcastle Community Green Festival, which claims to be the UK’s biggest free community environmental festival, also takes place every June, in Leazes Park. The main festival day hosts musical events over 5 themed stages. [7]
The Northern Rock Cyclone [8], a major cycling festival takes place within or starting from Newcastle in June.
Newcastle Mela, held on the late August bank holiday weekend, is an annual a two-day multicultural event blending drama, music and food from Punjabi, Pakistani, Bengali and Hindu cultures. [9]
A major design festival called DOTT (Designs of The Time) is also held every year, and culminates in a twelve day Festival in NewcastleGateshead in October. [10]
There are several major shopping areas in Newcastle city centre. The largest of these is the Eldon Square Shopping Centre, which incorporates the first and largest Fenwick department store, and a John Lewis store (formerly known as Bainbridge) which is often cited as the first department store in the world. Eldon Square is currently undergoing a full redevelopment which will include a new bus station, replacing the old underground bus station and redeveloping the fascia of the centre that faces Grainger Town to allow the 1970s concrete to be replaced by more forgiving materials to accommodate its architectural surroundings. As part of the redevelopment the 1970s Green Market was closed in early 2007 and rebuilt.
The main shopping street in the city is Northumberland Street. In a 2004 report, it was ranked as the most expensive shopping street in the UK for rent, outside of London.[34] Other shopping centres in Newcastle include the relatively modern Eldon Garden and Monument Mall complexes, the Newgate Centre, Central Arcade and the traditional Grainger Market. The largest suburban shopping areas are Gosforth and Byker. The largest indoor shopping centre in Europe, The MetroCentre, is located in Gateshead.
The 1960s saw the internationally successful rock group, The Animals, emerge from Newcastle night spots such as Club A-Go-Go on Percy Street, the 1980s saw Geordie singer Brian Johnson join Australian supergroup AC/DC. Other well-known acts with connections to the city include Sting, Dubstar, Dire Straits, The Wildhearts, 3 Colours Red, Duran Duran, and more recently Maxïmo Park, The Sound Explosion, Yourcodenameis:milo, The Motorettes and Kubichek!. Neil Tennant, singer from the Pet Shop Boys, was schooled in Newcastle. There is also a thriving underground music scene that encompasses a variety of styles, including Drum and Bass, doom metal and Post-rock.
Lindisfarne are a folk-rock group with a strong Tyneside connection. Their most famous song, "Fog on the Tyne" (1971), was covered by Geordie
