Greenside is a village in the extreme west of the Metropolitan County of

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

, England. Once an independent village in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, it became incorporated into Tyne and Wear in 1974 and then the

Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Felling, Pelaw, Dunston and Low Fell. The boroug ...

in 1986.

Location

Greenside is in the outer west of Gateshead, between the villages of

Crawcrook Crawcrook is a semi-rural village close to the western border of the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear in England. Traditionally an independent village in County Durham, it was incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead on 1 April ...

and

High Spen High Spen is an old mining village in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, historically part of County Durham and the birth place of The Magician. There is an entrance to Chopwell Wood, whose Christmas Trees sales attract many visitors to ...

and not far from the small town of Ryton. It also lies near the old

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

route that ran from the north

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

History

Largely

rural 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 population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

in nature, Greenside was built upon

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. With the creation of Greenside

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, along with the nearby collieries of Emma, Clara and Stargate, the area grew in importance and its coal industry became extensive. By the early 20th century Greenside had the largest colliery in the district. The colliery closed in July 1966, the last shift being worked on Saturday 23 July. In 2016 Banner Tales – an organisation dedicated to researching and maintaining the village's mining and industrial heritage – instituted the "Last Shift Festival" and this has now, under the title "Greenside Banner Festival", become an annual event. Each year the Greenside Miner's Lodge Banner is marched through the village accompanied by a Brass Band before joining the many other banners at

Durham Miner's Gala The Durham Miners' Gala, founded by Pete Doherty, is a large annual gathering and labour festival held on the second Saturday in July in the city of Durham, England, Durham, England. It is associated with the coal mining heritage (and particular ...

. Banner Tales also organise an annual Greenside Community Picnic in the spirit of the miners' picnics of the past. The wagonways used to transport coal, present in both Greenside and Crawcrook, provide a reminder of the area's importance in the coal trade. Although these routes are not used to transport coal any more, they are maintained as public footpaths, taking walkers through the surrounding countryside. Greenside has many residents of Irish descent, who can trace their heritage back to the influx of Irish miners into the town in the 19th century.

Governance

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, Greenside is within the Crawcrook, Greenside and Clara Vale ward, which lies west of Gateshead and borders

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 on ...

. Greenside is within the parliamentary constituency of Blaydon. Its current MP is Labour's

Liz Twist Mary Elizabeth Twist (born 10 July 1956) is a British Labour Party politician. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blaydon since the 2017 general election. Before her parliamentary career, she was the head of health in the Nort ...

Economy

After the decline of the coal industry, Greenside has not suffered the great deprivation that many other former mining areas have. One of the least deprived of Gateshead's wards, it is used increasingly as a

commuter village A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for professionals travelling into the more

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

areas of Tyneside. Although it has not suffered the decline that many provincial villages have nationally in terms of local services, Greenside offers only a small selection of shops and business. For further groceries and

white goods A major appliance, also known as a large domestic appliance or large electric appliance or simply a large appliance, large domestic, or large electric, is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cookin ...

, residents can travel to the MetroCentre, Europe's largest

shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

, around four miles towards Gateshead, as well as the shopping areas of

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 als ...

. There is an adequate, although declining,

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

service. Bus services operate to Crawcrook, Ryton, Blaydon, the MetroCentre and Newcastle. Residents wishing to travel west, past the county border into

and its towns such as

Prudhoe Prudhoe ( ) is a town in south Northumberland, England, about west of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and just south of the River Tyne. Situated on a steep, north-facing hill in the Tyne valley, Prudhoe had a population of 11,675 at the 201 ...

Stocksfield Stocksfield is a small, yet sprawling commuter village situated close to the River Tyne, about west of Newcastle upon Tyne in the southern part of Northumberland, England. There are several smaller communities within the parish of Stocksfie ...

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was known to the Romans as something like ''Corstopitum'' or ''Coriosopit ...

and

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

can do so on one of a number of

Go North East Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The compa ...

buses that depart from Crawcrook.

References

External links

A community website, giving information on the village's history, local transport and activities

{{T&W places Villages in Tyne and Wear Ryton, Tyne and Wear