Tyne

Tyne, a northern English river, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne, a mile NW. of Hexham. It flows east for 30 miles, and enters the sea between Tynemouth and South Shields. Some of the head-streams of the North Tyne rise in Scotland, about 11 miles SE. of Hawick. It flows south across Keelders Moor, and south-east to Hexham, with a total length of 32 miles, and receives on the left the Reed Water near Bellingham. The South Tyne rises on the slopes of Cross Fell, flows 19 miles north to Haltwhistle, then 14 miles east to Hexham, receiving the Allen on the right. The scenery of the two head-streams is beautiful beyond most, and few districts of England, moreover, are richer in romantic and historical associations. The Tyne itself flows through the richest coal-mining region of Britain, and on its banks stand Corbridge, Ovingham, Newburn, Ryton, Blaydon, Newcastle and Gateshead, Walker, Jarrow, North and South Shields. Its chief affluents are the Derwent and the Tees on the right. Navigable from Blaydon, about 8 miles above Newcastle, from that city to the sea it is one continuous harbour. The salmon-fisheries have decayed, but the shipbuilding maintains its importance. The multifarious manufactures carried on on Tyneside (which sadly defile the lower course of the stream) may be realised by referring to the article NEWCASTLE, where also the sea-borne trade and the deepening of the river are referred to. For statistical and some other purposes, Newcastle and North and South Shields are grouped together as the 'Tyne ports.' The Tyne is also famous among English rivers for its boating (see ROWING). See Guthrie's River Tyne (1880), Palmer's Tyne and its Tributaries (1881), and Cassell's Rivers of England.