Amble is a town on the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
coast of
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
, England, at the mouth of the
River Coquet
The River Coquet runs through the county of Northumberland, England, discharging into the North Sea on the east coast at Amble. It rises in the Cheviot Hills on the border between England and Scotland, and follows a winding course across the l ...
;
Coquet Island is visible from its beaches and harbour. In 2011, it had a population of 6,025.
Etymology
There are two suggested origins of the place-name Amble. One theory suggests a
Goidelic
The Goidelic or Gaelic languages ( ga, teangacha Gaelacha; gd, cànanan Goidhealach; gv, çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages.
Goidelic languages historically ...
origin from ''Am Béal'', meaning "tidal inlet", and is attributed to the historical presence of Irish missionaries in the area who spoke that language despite most of the local population not doing so. An earlier theory, originating with
Eilert Ekwall, is an
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
origin of ''Amma/Anna bile'', meaning "Amma's/Anna's headland".
There are sources indicating that the name and variants thereof – such as ''Ambell'' and ''Ambhill'' – may have been in use as long ago as 1203 AD. Northumberland was not recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
.
History
Various urns,
cist
A cist ( or ; also kist ;
from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...
s, flint spearheads and other evidence of ancient burials were found near to Amble in the 1880s and 1890s. Some of those remains showed signs of cremation.
Outcrops of coal had been found along the coastline between the River Coquet and the
River Tyne at least as long ago as the reign of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
, when unsuccessful attempts had been made to extract and transport it in an economic manner. A failed proposal to use Amble as a port for the shipment of locally sourced coal and salt is recorded in 1618,
although this failure did not discourage William Hewitt from making the then rare decision to reserve for himself the rights to the coal when he sold the townships of Amble and Hauxley in 1630.
A significant factor in the failure of all the early attempts, when compared to the success of ventures in the valleys of the Tyne and the
Wear
Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology.
Wear in ...
, was that of economies of scale. Those more successful areas at that time had plentiful easily accessed reserves which encouraged investment and the sharing of fixed costs such as harbour facilities, buildings and machinery among a large number of enterprises.
The early situation changed as the operators in the valleys exhausted the cheaply extracted ores and found themselves having to mine deeper and also further away from the rivers that were used for transport, thus increasing their costs per unit of coal mined. Some coal was probably being shipped from previously uneconomic places such Amble and
Blyth by the end of the seventeenth century,
and it was certainly being extracted at Amble by that time.
Amble grew in the nineteenth century as
collieries
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...
were opened; and the newly built railway links to the Northumberland coalfields made the town a centre for the sea transport and export of coal. Prior to the development of the harbour, the town was "little more than a hamlet", according to the architectural guides originally compiled by
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
.
The principal local mineworkings were those at
Broomhill and at
Radcliffe
Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to:
Places
* Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan
United Kingdom
* Radcliffe, Greater Manchester
** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town
** Radcliffe tram stop
* ...
.
The harbour at Amble was the smallest of those that served the coalfields of Northumberland and Durham. It was originally under the control of the
Dukes of Northumberland
Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke o ...
until, in 1837, a port authority – the Warkworth Harbour Commission – was created to supervise improvements. Following consultations with various engineers, the proposals submitted by
John Rennie in 1838 were accepted. These included the construction of
breakwater
Breakwater may refer to:
* Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour
Places
* Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia
* Breakwater Island
Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...
s to the north and the south, which were eventually completed in 1849 at a total cost of £116,000. The larger northern breakwater, which was originally in length, was extended in the early part of the 20th century but suffered from the undermining effects of the tide and required shoring with
slag brought in from the ironworks of
Hartlepool and
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
.
The construction of docks had also been mooted in 1844 and 1850 but the arrival of the railway led instead to the construction of
coal staithes. A change in consulting engineer in 1869 resulted in extensive dredging of the harbour but did not greatly improve the prospects of the port. Shipments of coal amounted to over 500,000 tons by 1914 but this was a modest volume when compared to the other regional ports. Robert Rennison notes with regard to the relative lack of prosperity that the port served a "small and discrete coalfield".
The railway branched on a single track to Amble at a point near to
Chevington and was opened in September 1849 by the
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...
, initially as a freight-only line. Passenger services between Amble and Chevington began in 1879, following the construction of a station at Broomhill in 1878 and
facilities at Amble itself. The line between Amble and Broomhill was double-track. The passenger service ended in July 1930 and the general freight service was withdrawn in 1964. Coal traffic, which had amounted to around 750,000 tons annually in the 1920s, came to an end in 1969 when the line was closed completely.
Other industries, such as
sea fishing
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...
and both
ship building
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
and repair in an area known as the Braid had expanded with the growth of the town. Traditional Northumbrian
fishing vessels
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
such as
cobles had previously sheltered in the
natural harbour
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
for centuries. One local coble manufacturing business, J. & J. Harrison, founded in 1870, had been the first to introduce engines to the form and was still producing it in 1973, along with more generally utilised craft.
Amble Golf Club was founded in 1910 but disappeared in the late 1950s.
On 1 December 1943, a
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
Short Stirling Mk III (EH880) which departed
RAF Mepal
RAF Mepal is a former RAF station located south of Mepal, Cambridgeshire, England and west of Ely. Construction commenced in July 1942 and opened in June 1943.
History
Mepal first hosted No. 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF flying Short Stirlings and l ...
,
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...
, had completed its mission of dropping
sea mines
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ve ...
off the coast of
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
. The aircraft was due to land at
RAF Acklington
Royal Air Force Acklington, simply known as RAF Acklington, is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station located south west of Amble, Northumberland and north east of Morpeth, Northumberland.
The airfield was operational initia ...
. The pilots attempted a second approach to Acklington in bad weather; the aircraft crashed into Cliff House Farm, Togston. Six of the seven crew died along with five children on the ground: a 1997 housing development in the western edge of the town has streets named after the children who perished.
Present day
![St Cuthbert's Church, Amble - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/St_Cuthbert%27s_Church%2C_Amble_-_geograph.org.uk_-_980084.jpg)
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's guide of 1992 says that "Today Amble is a not unpleasant small town but has few buildings of distinction." Of those, he records the church of
St Cuthbert, which was originally constructed in 1870 and expanded in 1929, and its associated 1876-built vicarage. In addition, he notes some early Victorian terraces on Queen Street and North Street, as well as "a fragment of wall with a C 15 window, square-headed and of two trefoiled lights with uncusped sunk panels above. Though it may seem unlikely, this is an ''in situ'' fragment of the medieval manor house. It belonged to Tynemouth Priory and may have served as a monastic cell." This latter is found on High Street.
The fishing industry continues in Amble today, albeit with a reduced number of vessels, as does a small marine industry which is mainly concentrated around the construction and repair of
yacht
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
s and other
pleasure craft
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...
. A small
industrial estate
An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...
is located to the southwest of the town, whose clients include
vehicle repairs and telecommunications companies. However, , most of the units on the estate are unoccupied and the town has been affected by the closure of nearby businesses, such as a site operated by
Alcan
Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...
, as well as two food processing businesses in the town that employed nearly 300 people. A proposed retail development by
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
had also been postponed due to poor trading conditions. The town's mayor announced that "the prospects for jobs are very bleak indeed."
The
Royal National Lifeboat Institution maintains a
station at Amble. Amble RNLI station has two lifeboats – the Shannon Class 'Shannon Elizabeth and Leonard', which replaced the Mersey Class lifeboat 'The Four Boys' in November 2016 after the station raised £200,000 towards the new vessel's £2,000,000 cost. Amble's second lifeboat is the 'D Class' Inshore Lifeboat (or ILB), the 'Mildred Holcroft'. There have been lifeboats operating from the town since 1842 and, for example, between 30 and 40 people perished in various wrecks near to Amble on 17–18 December 1872.
Regeneration and community development
Amble had been a recipient of
regional development
Regional development is a broad term but can be seen as a general effort to reduce regional disparities by supporting (employ) economin regions. In the past, regional development policy tended to try to achieve these objectives by means developmen ...
assistance from 1965, when the restructuring of coal-mining operations, led by
Alfred Robens
Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham, PC (18 December 1910 – 27 June 1999) was an English trade unionist, Labour politician and industrialist. His political ambitions, including an aspiration to become Prime Minister, were frustrated b ...
of the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...
, had a substantial detrimental effect on the local economy.
Unemployment in the town was then 6.5 per cent, compared to a national average of 1.5 per cent. By 1969, the Northern Economic Planning Council was proposing the closure of the port, which no longer had any coal traffic, in favour of redevelopment for leisure purposes. The same year saw the closure of the nearby airbase of
RAF Acklington
Royal Air Force Acklington, simply known as RAF Acklington, is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station located south west of Amble, Northumberland and north east of Morpeth, Northumberland.
The airfield was operational initia ...
, where some of the population worked, and local unemployment exceeded 13 percent as proposals for a substantial mushroom farming operation that would alleviate the problems were made. The farming operation failed to materialise due to lack of financial support from the government.
The development assistance was withdrawn in 1984, at which time a newspaper report noted that over 30 per cent of the 6,000 population were unemployed, with 80 per cent of council house tenants and 45 per cent of home owners receiving benefits or rebates for their housing costs and over 25 per cent of children claiming free school meals. The change in official status was one of the "glaring anomalies" of a government review, resulting from the town being reclassified as part of the "
travel to work area
A travel to work area or TTWA is a statistical tool used by UK Government agencies and local authorities, especially by the Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentres, to indicate an area where the population would generally commute to a ...
" for
Alnwick rather than a part of the industrialised regions to the south. Four businesses had been encouraged by the assistance to locate in the town during the preceding decade, creating around 400 jobs.
Amble Development Trust is a company operating as a charity with the purpose of working with other bodies to regenerate the town. It was established in 1994. The Trust has been involved in numerous local projects to develop Amble both physically and socially, including having input on improvements to Queen Street, which is the main shopping thoroughfare.
The work of the Trust and its associated body, the Amble Strategic Partnership, was recognised by the
Royal Town Planning Institute
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) is the professional body representing planners in the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It promotes and develops policy affecting planning and the built environment. Founded in 1914, the institute was gra ...
in 2003 when they were given the institute's Planning for Town Regeneration award. This came soon after the same organisation had awarded them their Regional Award for Planning Achievement.
Recently new housing has been built, adding an extra 900 homes, and a new hotel called the Amble Inn opened in 2019 bringing much-needed employment to the town.
Another project of the Trust is
The Ambler
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, a bi-monthly community newspaper and website, established in 2000 and operated mainly by volunteers. The free bi-monthly newspaper is delivered to every house and business in the town.
Demography
Samuel Lewis reported a township population of 247 in 1831. By the seventh edition of his ''Topographical Dictionary of England'', which was published in 1848, this figure had risen to 724. The population was reported as being 1,040 in 1851. The 1871 census recorded a population of 1,233, spread among 233 houses.
D. J. Rowe notes that, in common with many Northumbrian towns, historically there was "endemic" overcrowding of the population in Amble. The number of houses that averaged over two people per room was 32.6 per cent in 1911. This figure, while not atypical for the region, was above average for the county and well above that for other regions of the country, such as London.
Governance
During the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
period, Amble was a part of the
liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
held by successive
priors of
Tynemouth, most of whom faced challenges to their authority from both the Crown and their major tenants. The town was ceded to the Crown in 1539, at the time of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Until measures such as the
Reform Acts of 1832 and
1867
Events
January–March
* January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed a ...
, the electoral franchise was very restricted. In the
1826 General Election, there were nine people eligible to vote due to their
freehold
Freehold may refer to:
In real estate
*Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple
* Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England
* Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
interests in Amble, of which six actually lived there; another voter lived in Amble but was enfranchised due to freehold interests held elsewhere. Twelve voters living in Amble qualified as freeholders or through land occupancy in the
1841 election, whilst another lived there but qualified due to property held elsewhere, and one lived elsewhere but held qualifying property in the township.
The Amble Local Government District, given the job of looking after the town, was set up around September 1878, the
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
comprising Amble, Hauxley, Gloster Hill and Togston having been formed by splitting from that of Warkworth in 1869 just before completion of the church construction.
Elections to the nine-member committee followed and it first met on 25 November 1878. George W. Beattie was appointed Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances to the Amble Local Board and Urban Sanitary Authority in January 1879. The administration was replaced by Amble Urban District Council which first met on 3 January 1895. Amble Urban District Council had nine elected Councillors.
On 1 April 2009, the local government structure of Northumberland was reorganised. The six former districts were combined with the county to form the
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
of
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
, based in
Morpeth
Morpeth may refer to:
*Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia
** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales
* Morpeth, Ontario, Canada
* Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK
** Morpeth (UK ...
. Amble was in the former
Alnwick District based in the town of
Alnwick.
An
electoral ward of the same name now exists. This ward includes Hauxley with a total population at the 2011 Census of 4,565. However, some outlying parts of the town are excluded from this Amble ward and are instead combined with Warkworth in a ward named Amble West with Warkworth.
Climate
Being in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, Amble experiences a
maritime climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest
Met Office weather station for which data are available is at
Boulmer
Boulmer is a village in Northumberland, England, on the North Sea coast east of Alnwick. It is home to RAF Boulmer. Boulmer has an independent volunteer lifeboat station.
Origin of the name
The name Boulmer, pronounced "Boomer", is a derivatio ...
, about nine miles to the north.
Transport
Road
Amble is situated on the
A1068 that runs along the north-eastern coastline. This road is the old corn trading road which runs from Hexham in south west Northumberland through Cramlington, Bedlington, Guide Post, Ashington and Ellington. The road continues through more open coastal areas towards Amble and continues approximately to the north to Alnmouth, then winds on to Alnwick.
Amble also lies near to the
A1, providing easy access to nearest city
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
( south),
Gateshead ( south) and to the
Scottish capital
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
( north).
Rail
The
East Coast Main Line railway between Edinburgh (journey time approximately 1:10) and London (journey time approximately 3:45) runs via the nearby
Alnmouth for Alnwick Station or
Widdrington Station Widdrington may refer to:
;Places
*Widdrington, Northumberland, place in Northumberland, England
*Widdrington railway station
Widdrington is a railway station on the East Coast Main Line, which runs between and . The station, situated north o ...
.
Air
Newcastle Airport is under an hour's drive from Amble.
It provides daily flights to London and regular flights to other UK centres. The airport also operates regular flights to many European destinations, along with destinations in Africa and North America.
Tourism
Representations were made in 2006 for Amble to be included in the
Northumberland Coast
The Northumberland Coast is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covering of coastline from Berwick-Upon-Tweed to the River Coquet estuary in the Northeast of England. Features include: Alnmouth, Bamburgh, Beadnell, Budle Bay ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...
, which ends at the pier. The town is also adjacent to nature reserves operated by
Northumberland Wildlife Trust
Northumberland Wildlife Trust was established in 1971 (following a split from the ''Northumberland & Durham Trust'', established 1962) to help conserve and protect the wildlife of Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside in the UK ...
at
Cresswell,
Druridge and Hauxley.
The town has a
caravan park
Caravan or caravans may refer to:
Transport and travel
*Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together
**Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop
*Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals
*Convoy, a group of veh ...
, as well as
guest house
A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use ...
s and
bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...
accommodation for visitors. The Braid, which forms a part of the harbour, is now a
greenfield site
Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low po ...
with a modern
marina. In 2009, part of the Braid was legally designated as a
Village Green
A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle t ...
, despite opposition from the council and the withdrawal of the initial application by the person who sought the status.
The nearby Coquet Island is home to many varieties of nesting sea birds, including
puffins and the rare
Roseate tern. Access is restricted but there are various providers of boat trips around the island. A £10,000 grant was awarded to promote the town with a "Puffin Festival" during the last two weeks of May 2013, when the presence of that species on the island is at its peak. It was hoped that the grant would also encourage local people to use the town's shops.
Friendliest port
In the 1930s, when the
RMS ''Mauretania'' was heading on her last voyage to the breaker's yard at
Rosyth
Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440.
The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...
, the town council of Amble sent a telegram to the ship saying "still the finest ship on the seas". The ''Mauretania'' replied with greetings "to the last and kindliest port in England".
Notable people
*
William Rochester Pape (1831 - 1923) - an English gunsmith who invented and patented the choke boring system, and held the first dog show in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
*Sir
James Calvert Spence
Sir James Calvert Spence, & Bar (19 March 1892 – 26 May 1954) was an English paediatrician who was a pioneer in the field of social paediatrics. He was a founding member of the British Paediatric Association.
Early life
Spence was born in A ...
(1892–1954) -
nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disciplines. In many ...
and
paediatrician
Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...
[ ]
*Professor
Fred Taylor (1934 - 2021) - formerly Professorial Fellow,
Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship S ...
and Halley Professor of Physics,
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
. Distinguished Visiting Scientist at
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
,
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
,
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
...
.
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John Angus (1938 - 2021) -
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
and
England footballer.
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Luke James (1994 -''living'') - footballer for Peterborough United
Gallery
File:Amble Harbour at night.jpg, Fishing boats tied up.
File:amblebirds.jpg, Birds on the grass in the car park leading on to the 'little shore'
File:ambleboats2.jpg, Small fishing boats moored-up.
File:amblepier.jpg, Amble pier
File:Amble Harbour, Northumberland.jpg, Fishing boat entering Amble Harbour.
File:Cobles in the harbour, Amble (1) - geograph.org.uk - 1366403.jpg, Cobles in the harbour
File:Town square, Amble - geograph.org.uk - 521543.jpg, Town square, Amble
File:Amble-clock-and-flag.jpg, Amble war memorial and clock in the town square
See also
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Amble branch line
The Amble branch line was a branch railway line in Northumberland, England, that ran from Amble Junction north of Chevington on the East Coast Main Line to Amble via
Broomhill. The line was single track to Broomhill and then double track to ...
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James Calvert Spence College
References
Notes
Citations
Further reading
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External links
Amble Town CouncilThe Ambler Community NewspaperAmble and District local history
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Towns in Northumberland
Ports and harbours of Northumberland
Populated coastal places in Northumberland
Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England