The Port of Tyne comprises the commercial docks on and around the
River Tyne in
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, Newcast ...
in the
northeast of England.
History
There has been a port on the Tyne at least since the Romans used their settlement of
Arbeia
Arbeia was a large Roman fort in South Shields, Tyne & Wear, England, now ruined, and which has been partially reconstructed. It was first excavated in the 1870s and all modern buildings on the site were cleared in the 1970s. It is managed by ...
to supply the garrison of
Hadrian's Wall. Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river in
Newcastle, an indication that trade was increasing. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool-exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
...
,
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including Beam (structure), beams and plank (wood), planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as fini ...
,
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...
,
millstones,
dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...
produce, fish,
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...
, and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
countries and
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the
burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with
Gateshead and
South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the ...
.
From 1600 the growth in the export of coal brought prosperity to Newcastle. Until the 19th century the port was the responsibility of the
City of Newcastle
The City of Newcastle is a local government area in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The City of Newcastle incorporates much of the area of the Newcastle metropolitan area.
The Lord Mayor of City of Newcastle Council is Counc ...
, but navigation became difficult, and in 1850 the Tyne Improvement Commission (TIC) was established to better maintain the port and river. In 1881 they published a review of their achievements. One significant action was the removal by dredging of
Kings Meadow Island. A major force through this period were the
Keelmen
The Keelmen of Tyne and Wear were a group of men who worked on the keels, large boats that carried the coal from the banks of both rivers to the waiting collier ships. Because of the shallowness of both rivers, it was difficult for ships of any sig ...
.
The TIC deepened the river to 9.83 metres, and built the North and South Piers, and the Northumberland, Tyne and Albert Edward Docks. In 1928 the TIC opened the Tyne Commission Quay at
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 ...
, now known as the Northumbrian Quay, to handle mail and cargo trade with
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
.
In 1968 the TIC was dissolved and replaced by the Port of Tyne Authority. Since then, with the decline in the coal industry, the port has switched to the export of cars manufactured in the northeast of England.
The port today
The Port of Tyne is the
navigation authority for the tidal reaches of the River Tyne, from the mouth to the Tidal Stone at
Wylam
Wylam is a village and civil parish in the county of Northumberland. It is located about west of Newcastle upon Tyne.
It is famous for the being the birthplace of George Stephenson, one of the early railway pioneers. George Stephenson's Birt ...
, a distance of 17 miles. It also has jurisdiction for one mile past the roundheads at the piers at the
river mouth
A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/ gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carryin ...
.
The port handles conventional and bulk cargoes at the Riverside Quay. There are two car terminals, one on either side of the river, a cruise terminal at Northumbrian Quay on the north side, and a ferry terminal at North Shields.
The Port of Tyne applied to become a
freeport after
the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 but the application was rejected.
[UK Government]
Trade Secretary announces Freeports Advisory Panel will ensure UK is ready to trade post-Brexit
published 2 August 2019, accessed 21 August 2019
Police
The Tyne Improvement Commission Docks and Piers Police was a police force maintained by the TIC from 1874 to police its property. Its officers were sworn as
special constables under the
Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 and had full police powers on TIC property. The force was disbanded on 1 September 1949, although its members remained in the Commission's employment as Watchmen in the Traffic and Engineering Department. Policing on Commission property was taken over by the
River Tyne Police.
References
External links
*
*''The Last Tyne Wherry Elswick No 2 Information Sheet'' (front). Tyne & Wear County Council Museums Service, Undated c1979. An original may be consulted at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums Discovery Museum
Frontan
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{{authority control
River Tyne
Economy of Tyne and Wear
Competent harbour authorities
Ports and harbours of Tyne and Wear
South Shields