Percy Main is a small village absorbed into
North Shields
North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth.
Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...
,
North East England
North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
.
Historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
in
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 ...
, it is now part 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 ...
.
History
![Église St Jean Percy Main North Tyneside 6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/%C3%89glise_St_Jean_Percy_Main_North_Tyneside_6.jpg)
It is named after the colliery belonging to the Percy family, which was located just south of the railway, near St. John's church. The colliery was sunk in 1799 & went to a depth of 247 metres to the renowned Main seam, which was considered the best coal for household use. The village grew up around it to serve the pit, which eventually closed in 1895. In 1872, the population was recorded as 3,953, residing in 786 houses. The inhabitants worked mainly in the neighbouring docks and other industries.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, children from the village were evacuated to
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 ...
, Northumberland.
Recreation
Sport
Sport is popular in the village, with Percy Main Cricket Club playing at St John's Green in the Northumberland and Tyneside Senior Cricket League, with their next door neighbours
Percy Main Amateurs F.C.
Percy Main Amateurs Football Club is a association football, football club based in Percy Main in Tyne and Wear, England. They are currently members of the and play at Purvis Park.
History
The club was established in 1919 by demobilised soldier ...
playing at Purvis Park in the
Northern Football Alliance
The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System.
The top club in the Premier Division ...
Premier Division. A
hedge
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...
separates the two teams.
Transport
Rail
The village's main and only modern-day railway station is the
Percy Main Metro station
Percy Main is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the suburb of Percy Main, North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 14 November 1982, following the opening of the fourth phase of the network, between Tynemouth and ...
.
The original footbridge from the station is preserved at the
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...
,
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. A passenger station opened on the Newcastle and North Shields Railway around 1840. It closed on 11 August 1980 to allow conversion for the Metro, before re-opening on 14 November 1982.
In 2020,
Nexus
NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and Border control#Expedited border controls, expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members ...
constructed a new
depot
Depot ( or ) may refer to:
Places
* Depot, Poland, a village
* Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica
* Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica
* Depot Island Formation, Greenland
Brands and enterprises
* Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...
for the Tyne and Wear Metro on a former landfill site immediately to the east of the village. The depot will house rolling stock while the
South Gosforth Traction Maintenance Depot is reconstructed in anticipation of a new fleet in late 2021. Originally intended to be a temporary measure, upgrades to the Metro system around South Shields may mean the deport is made a permanent feature.
Bus
Go Ahead Group
The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...
has a bus depot on Norham Road and a number of its services pass through the village.
Hollywood Trivia
Film Director brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott formed their first film production company under the name Percy Main Productions.
Thelma & Louise
''Thelma & Louise'' is a 1991 American road crime comedy-drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. It stars Susan Sarandon as Louise and Geena Davis as Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unfores ...
is a notable film during this time.
In 1996 they renamed their production company to Scott Free, and finally to Scott Free Productions.
Religion
Percy Main is part of a
Church of England parish
The parish with its parish church(es) is the basic territorial unit of the Church of England. The parish has its roots in the Roman Catholic Church and survived the English Reformation largely untouched. Each is within one of 42 dioceses: divide ...
that also includes
Meadow Well Meadow Well, also known as Meadowell or the Ridges, is a district of North Shields, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it is now part of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan county. The population in 2016 was approximately 11,000.
His ...
,
East Howdon
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from ...
and the
Royal Quays
Royal Quays is an area of North Shields, North Tyneside, England, beside the River Tyne.
Built on the site of former docks, and containing the pre-existing North Shields International Ferry Terminal, the area was renamed Royal Quays in 1990 and r ...
.
The parish church, Tynemouth Percy St John, was built for the
Duke 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 ...
in 1862, and is
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. Designed by
Anthony Salvin
Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country ho ...
, it is built in sandstone and was re-ordered around 2000, to incorporate use as a community centre. Located on St John's Terrace, the church shares a vicar with the nearby St Peter's, on the Balkwell estate. The contemporary vicarage, at the junction of Waterville Road and Norham Road, was sold in the 1940s and converted into a
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, now The Redburn. A new vicarage was built adjacent to the church.
The
Diocese of Newcastle
The Diocese of Newcastle is a Church of England diocese based in Newcastle upon Tyne, covering the historic county of Northumberland (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne), as well as the area of Alston Moo ...
's main administrative office is located at Church House, formerly Percy St John's Primary School. The religious resources centre the diocese shares with the Diocese of Durham is also on the site. The earlier school it replaced was located on the site of St John's Court, immediately to the north of the church. Excess bricks from the building of the Court were used to construct a hall to the rear of the church. The 2000 re-ordering included re-cladding of the original brickwork, obscuring this.
The village, at one time, also had primitive Methodist and Baptist chapels, though these no longer exist.
Education
Percy Main Primary School is located in the village. After a short inspection by
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...
in 2016, the school was rated as Good.
Norham High School, providing secondary education, is located a little to the north. In 2016, a full Ofsted inspection found that the school Requires Improvement, however this was downgraded to inadequate in 2018, leading to its placement in
special measures
Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards.
In education (England and Wales)
Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...
. A monitoring inspection the following year confirmed that the remedial action was having a positive result, though the school remains in special measures.
Geography
The village is around a mile and a half south west of the centre of North Shields. The hamlet of East Howdon is almost immediately south.
The large Meadow Well estate borders the village to the north. The portion of the estate south of the Metro line, and to the east of Percy Main, was redeveloped as Riverside Park in the early 1990s.
The Royal Quays Outlet Centre and Northumbrian Water's treatment works lie between the village and the River Tyne.
Facilities
Redburn Park Medical Centre is located just to the north of the Metro station.
References
[Lawrence, Danny. Shiels to Shields, The History of a Tyneside Town. 2016]
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Populated places in Tyne and Wear
North Shields