Shields, NORTH

Shields, NORTH, a seaport and market-town of Northumberland, situated on the north bank of the Tyne, near the mouth of that river, 8 miles ENE. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In the 13th century the germ of the present town was a collection of huts or sheds temporarily used by the fishermen of the Tyne. These were called 'sleies,' a name which has since been corrupted into 'Shields.' The prior of Tynemouth previous to 1279 built twenty-six houses and a quay here, but the burgesses of Newcastle, who claimed an exclusive right to the trade of the Tyne, frustrated his design to establish a town where, so they contended, 'no town ought to be.' For five hundred years North Shields, oppressed by Newcastle, remained a mere village, but during the 19th century its development has been rapid. The town is without any architectural character, the streets being monotonously plain, and, near the river, narrow and dingy. The principal public buildings and institutions are the town-hall (1844), the theatre-royal, the covered market, the free library and museum, the Tyne Sailors' Home (1856), and the Master Mariners' Asylum (1837-38). North Shields is within the parish of Tynemouth. There are five churches in the town (four Established Church and one Roman Catholic Church) and seventeen chapels. The Northumberland Park (in which are the remains of St Leonard's Hospital) formed part of Spital Dene, and abuts on the Tynemouth Road, covering an area of about 17 acres. The mouth of the Tyne forms an important harbour; the depth of water on the bar at low-water (spring-tides) is 20 feet; at high-water, 37. Within the borough are two extensive docks—the Northumberland (opened 1857) and the Albert Edward (opened 1884), the one having an area of 55 acres, the other of 24. Upwards of 2½ million tons of coal and coke were shipped from these docks in 1890. The principal imports are corn, timber, and esparto grass. About 101,000 tons of shipping are registered at the port of North Shields. There is much building and repairing of steam and sailing vessels and manufacture of anchors, chain-cables, ropes, &c. At the fish-quay (4½ acres in extent) there were landed in the year ending March 25, 1890, 6530 tons of herrings and 6146 tons of whitefish. At Clifford's Fort is a submarine mining station. In conjunction with Tynemouth (q.v.) and three small townships North Shields forms a municipal and parliamentary borough, named after Tynemouth, and sends one member to parliament. The population of the municipal borough of Tynemouth, of which North Shields forms a part, in 1881 was 44,118; in 1891 it was 46,588. This town is the birthplace of the painters George Bahmer (1805-46) and Birket Foster (born 1812), also of William Wouldhave (1751-1821), who shares with Greathead the honour of inventing the lifeboat. Henry Taylor (1737-1823), who originated the system of lightships in such places as Goodwin Sands, was from 1772 to his death associated with North Shields.