Gateshead Garden Festival view from staithes 1

The Gateshead Garden Festival was the fourth of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

's five national garden festivals. Held between May and October 1990, in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

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, Newcas ...

, it lasted 157 days, and received over three million visitors. Attractions included public art displays, a

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

, and dance, music, theatre and sporting events. The site comprised four areas: Norwood, Riverside, Dunston and Eslington Park, and several modes of transport were provided around the site: a monorail which ran between Norwood and Eslington, a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

steam railway This tabulation is for periodicals which do not have their own articles. Magazines ''Australian Railway'' * * Published Trade News Corporation * Feb-Mar 1988 is Vol. 2 No. 1. * Last issue about #23 in approximately Aug 1992. * Size = ~A4 ''A ...

between Dunston and Redheugh, and a

road train A road train, land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a trucking vehicle used to move road freight more efficiently than semi-trailer trucks. It consists of two or more trailers or semi-trailers hauled by a prime mover. History Early ...

which covered the entire site. A ferry across the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...

, between Dunston Staithes and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Quayside The Quayside is an area along the banks ( quay) of the River Tyne in Newcastle upon Tyne (the north bank) and Gateshead (south bank) in Tyne and Wear, North East England, United Kingdom. History The area was once an industrial area and busy co ...

, was also provided. The festival site was created over a two-year period, on of derelict land, previously the site of a gasworks, a coal depot and a coking plant. The cost of reclaiming and redeveloping the land was around £37 million. The ''

Evening Chronicle The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to as ''The Comical'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Comical'' is published by ...

'' reported: "Around 50,000 cubic metres of discarded coal and coke over 25 acres was removed and the area capped with layers of limestone. ��Nearly two million trees and shrubs and 1.2m bulbs were planted. Enough turf was laid to cover 1,000 domestic lawns and three tonnes of grass seed was sown. Five thousand previously unemployed people were trained for roles in the festival." After the festival ended, much of the site was replaced by housing. Reflecting on the Festival's 25th anniversary in 2015, the ''Evening Chronicle'' noted: "It is also held to have kick started a process which resulted in the

Baltic centre Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety ...

Sage Gateshead Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which include ...

and the Millennium Bridge".

References

External links

National garden festivals Festivals in Tyne and Wear Gateshead 1990 in England Garden festivals in England 1990 festivals {{UK-festival-stub