Tynemouth, the chief watering-place of Northumberland, 9 miles E. of Newcastle, occupies the angle formed by the line of the coast and the Tyne. The municipal and parliamentary borough comprises the townships of Tynemouth, North Shields (q.v.), Chirton, Cullercoats, and Preston. From an early period Tynemouth was a place of importance. Edwin, King of Northumbria, is said to have founded here, about 627, a church of wood, wherein his daughter Rosella took the veil. King Oswald rebuilt it of stone about 640, and probably established the monastery, which in the succeeding centuries suffered much from the hands of the Danes. It was refounded in 1090 by Mowbray,
Earl of Northumberland. The monastic buildings were dismantled at the dissolution in 1539. The remains of the priory are chiefly those of the church, which was built about 1100 and enlarged about 1220. The chancel, whose eastern and southern walls are still standing, is one of the most exquisitely light and graceful specimens of Early English architecture in the country. The Lady Chapel, a chantry of the Percies, was founded towards the close of the 14th century. Tynemouth castle was built about 1296. All that remains of it now is the great gateway of 14th-century date.
Tynemouth is a clean, healthy town, with several good streets and terraces. A wide road extends to Cullercoats called the Grand Parade. The sands are nearly a mile long, and the Permian cliffs are very picturesque. The aquarium, built 1877-78, is now used for promenade concerts. The pier, over half a mile in length, was built in 1854-92. On the cliff above it is the lighthouse, 62 feet high. A monument to Lord Collingwood, by Lough, was erected in 1845 on Galley Hill. The Tynemouth Life Brigade, formed on the 5th December 1869, was the first volunteer life brigade in the kingdom. The borough sends one member to parliament. Pop. of township (1881) 22,548; (1891) 28,307; of borough (1891) 46,267. See W. S. Gibson's Monastery of Tynemouth (2 vols. 1846).