The Maritime Heritage of the North East 2006

Transcription

The Maritime Heritage
of the North East
2006
a report by David Parry
to the
North of England Civic Trust
for the
North East Historic Environment Forum
The Maritime Heritage
of the North East
2006
(Final Report – August 2006)
a report by David Parry
to the
North of England Civic Trust
for the
North East Historic Environment Forum
Except where otherwise credited all photographs in this report are by David Parry
and Copyright © David Parry and the North of England Civic Trust, 2006.
MARITIME HERITAGE IN THE NORTH EAST
CONTENTS
Page
Maritime Heritage in the North East
1
Part 1
A Journey Down the Coast – Places, Projects and People
5
Part 2
The Roles of some Key Players
The Region’s Museums and their Maritime Collections
SeaBritain North East 2005
Maritime Heritage in Archives and Local Studies Libraries
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) support for Maritime Heritage
HLF funded Maritime Heritage Projects in the Region
English Heritage
The National Trust
The Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership
The Durham Heritage Coast Partnership
Significant Internet Resources for North East Maritime Heritage
57
61
63
67
71
79
83
87
91
93
Part 3
Case Studies:
Seaham Harbour
HMS Trincomalee
Tall Ships and Small Ships
Sunderland’s Maritime Heritage
97
99
103
109
Appendices
Maritime Heritage and Tourism
Groups and organisations with an active interest in North East Maritime Heritage
Bibliography and Source Documents
People interviewed for this survey
115
117
119
121
Maritime Heritage in the North East
The North East of England enjoys an enormously rich heritage of historic ports and
harbours, lighthouses and seamarks, shipwrecks and coastal defences, fishing
communities and leisure resorts. The natural environment of the coast is also part of
that heritage, as is the culture and way of life of the coastal communities.
But what is heritage? Heritage and history are not the same thing. History is what
happened in the past. Heritage is what is left to us from that history. Things we can
see or touch and experience. This includes not only objects and artefacts, boats,
machines and buildings, landscapes formed by the sea and out of man’s interaction
with the sea, but also cultural heritage, community traditions and memories, music
and art.
How important is this maritime heritage, to the people of the North East and those
who come to visit? It is often said that this region, like other post-industrial maritime
regions, has “turned its back on the sea”. It is true that, compared with just one or two
generations ago, the sea, and consciousness of the sea, is not a factor in so many
people’s daily lives. In our grandparents’ days, probably every family in the region
had relatives or friends in some kind of maritime employment, be they shipyard
workers or dock workers, crane drivers or draughtsmen, matelots, merchant seamen,
fishermen and their working families, shipping clerks, instrument makers, pilots, fish
merchants, river police, lighthouse keepers and herring girls.
Today the shipyards and boat builders are all but gone, the fishing fleets reduced to a
fraction of their former size, almost all the support industries redundant. The skills
and knowledge have gone or are fast disappearing. The memories are dying.
It’s not that there isn’t maritime trade anymore. Both worldwide and for the UK far
more goods than ever before are imported and exported by sea. The coal trade may
have gone, but in 2005 the Port of Tees and Hartlepool, for example, handled a
staggering 55 million tonnes of freight, which we can compare with Tyne Dock, in its
heyday in the early 1900s when it was one of the biggest coal exporting docks in the
world, handling just 7 million tons a year. But the ships are much bigger now and
need much smaller crews, and few of the ships and even fewer of the crews are
British. Docks and transport are automated and do not require a mass workforce.
It is against this background that we were asked to look at maritime heritage in the
region, not so much to see what exists in terms of objects and buildings, because
most (although far from all) of this is well recorded in the historic environment records
and museum inventories, but to see who is doing what as regards the heritage, what
groups exist, what enthusiasts are undertaking what projects, how the funding for
these things works, and to try to draw together a picture of what the priorities should
be, and how they might be achieved.
The first part of this survey is a ‘Journey Down the Coast’, which demonstrates the
range and variety of current maritime heritage activity, looks at who is doing what,
focuses on some of the interesting developments, and highlights some of the issues.
The coal industry devastated the natural environment of the coast in some localities,
and created ‘black beaches’, where communities had little cause for pride in the
coastline.
1
The North Sea itself is never static, tides and storms work a constant process of
erosion and change which affects both the natural and archaeological features of the
heritage.
The ‘Journey Down the Coast’ is followed by a number of short pieces looking in
more detail at some of the agencies, organisations and subject areas involved.
If you take this journey down the coast with us, what soon becomes apparent is that
there are a very large number of people engaging with maritime heritage. You will
find, as one of the appendices to this survey, a list of over 80 organisations and
groups actively involved in one way or another, whether as heritage professionals
engaged in preserving and promoting the heritage, or as amateur enthusiasts,
amenity groups, and community organisations, researching, preserving and
interpreting, exhibiting and publishing.
There is a wide range of organisations here, and as a number of them have been
quick to point out, there is a consequently wide range of objectives, aspirations and
priorities. As an example we could take on one hand One North East, the
organisation charged with regional development, which is interested in economics
and will invest resources only where hard statistical data exists to show that this will
bring in returns from outside the region, and preferably from outside the UK. On the
other hand there is the retired maritime curator who says, “Don’t ask what maritime
heritage can do for you – ask what you can do for the heritage.”
On another level, people with different specialist interests do not always understand
or support each other. Someone dedicated to preserving the natural marine
environment might not understand why time and money should be spent keeping
gigantic old marine diesel engines running or recording the memories of retired
welders for example, whilst somebody else devoted to sailing historic vessels might
not understand all the fuss about protecting unlovely concrete World War II ruins on
the beaches or worrying about erosion on the dunes.
In drawing together a few conclusions and observations below we are not suggesting
any strategic plan which would encompass the divergent interests of all the different
stakeholders, but are drawing attention to some of the issues that have been
highlighted by groups and individuals around the region. This short list does not claim
to be exhaustive, but does reflect some of the main concerns and priorities that have
been raised. Other issues and priorities are also identified in the ‘Journey Down the
Coast’ and in the subsequent chapters and case studies.
o
Tall Ships 2005 proved without a doubt that there is a huge mass market for
maritime heritage if it is pitched at a level that resonates with peoples’
imagination and the historic iconography that makes up their sense of place
and ancestry. Tall Ships have such a draw that they can be used as a powerful
tool to engage people with aspects of maritime heritage going far beyond the
ships themselves.
o
Tall Ships 2010 should be a big opportunity for the maritime heritage
community, not only in Hartlepool but all along the coast. Other ports and
harbours should be thinking well in advance about inviting ships from the fleet
to stop over. Projects can work towards coinciding with this event and
benefiting from its high profile whilst contributing to its success. Compared with
2005, there needs to be a much stronger heritage presence on the quaysides,
where the visitors are.
2
o
Tall Ships have so much potential that they should not just be something that
happens for a few days every five years. Local authorities that are embracing
the maritime heritage as a facet of development should look at ways of making
them a more regular, or permanent, feature of the North East coast.
o
A number of different interest groups emphasise the importance of preserving
and promoting the wooden boat building tradition. A conference of interested
parties should be facilitated as soon as possible to make practical progress on
this.
o
The shipbuilding records at Tyne and Wear Archives are the heritage of a local
industry which played a crucial role in world history and they have a world wide
importance. The Archives service should be given the resources to catalogue
and make these records accessible, at a level that reflects their importance.
This needs to be done now whilst the specialist knowledge of people who have
worked in the shipyards is still there. There are people who can interpret and
explain the records now in a way that will not be possible in years to come.
o
Dedicated individuals who have spent years, often decades, researching
maritime heritage often find it very difficult indeed, compared with community
groups and charities, to get any financial support to collate and publish their
research. This risks losing material of great value. Whilst funding agencies may
not be able to fund individuals directly, there is scope for a project or
intermediate body to be funded with the ability to grant bursaries.
o
Many groups and individuals have said that they would benefit from finding out
about what others are doing, in order to exchange information and ideas. There
are a lot of people doing things out there but they often don’t know of each
other’s existence. As a small start, the list of over one hundred groups and
organisations with an active interest in maritime heritage in the region, which is
appended to this survey, could be circulated. We would doubt the usefulness of
a website in this context. Yet another ‘portal’ or ‘forum’ site could too easily be
overlooked in the anarchic cornucopia of the web. An interactive and proactive
‘North East Maritime Heritage’ discussion list on the lines of those on JISCmail,
which hosts free electronic discussion lists for the UK higher education and
research community, would be effective if somebody in an academic institution
could be found to manage it.
o
There is currently no academic department in any North East higher education
institution specialising in maritime history and postgraduate students have to go
to departments outside the region. Could this be rectified?
o
The current tide of housing and mixed-use developments on coastal and
riverside sites threatens to overwhelm the historic character of many maritime
communities. Local authorities do what they can, but community heritage and
amenity groups need to continue to be aware, vigilant and involved in the
development process.
o
Where coastal and riverside areas are redeveloped, it is vital that surviving
maritime service businesses are not driven out by the enhanced economic
value of sites. The retention of maritime related businesses, and preferably also
the attraction of new ones, is crucial to retaining the maritime character of
communities. Planning decisions must reflect this.
3
o
Maritime heritage is not just about a few important boats and buildings, it is also
about knowledge, tradition, skills and memories. Resources must be allocated
to these areas, but at the same time there need to be high profile, highly visible
public projects to capture the public imagination and raise consciousness of the
heritage amongst a wider constituency. To do the heritage justice, there need to
be maritime features on a par with the Angel of the North, Alnwick Gardens,
Beamish Museum and the Millennium Bridge, as well as community groups
meeting in the back rooms of libraries and enthusiasts planing planks in back
street workshops.
o
Maritime heritage is an asset that could and should benefit the region, and the
more that is made of it the greater the potential benefit for everybody. We have
heard comments such as “We have Trincomalee at Hartlepool, why would the
region want another ship?” and “We don’t want another attraction that would be
in competition with the Discovery Museum and Sunderland Museum” from
heritage professionals. That is small-minded. It is missing the point and
potentially missing a huge opportunity; an opportunity not only for creating
tourism and jobs, but also for reinforcing the region’s pride, self-esteem and
historical consciousness. Why not think in terms of a ‘Seafaring Heritage
Coast’?
o
Finally, the City of Adelaide. It is true that maritime heritage is about a lot more
than a few iconic objects, and it is right that public institutions should be prudent
with their finances and look to the long term viability of ventures, but at the
same time it beggars belief that a region which not long ago supplied ships to
the world and thereby played a huge role in world history cannot now
collectively summon the will and resources to save this one single ship.
4
A JOURNEY DOWN THE COAST – PLACES, PROJECTS AND
PEOPLE
This is not a comprehensive gazetteer of maritime heritage sites, but a brief survey of
sites and projects we have identified where people are currently active in preserving
or promoting their maritime heritage, or sites which illustrate some of the issues and
challenges. The journey begins at Berwick-upon-Tweed, and heads south.
Local people are concerned that marina-type housing will take over the
site and obscure the historic views of
the town walls. The Berwick-uponTweed Preservation Trust is involved
in acquisition and preservation of parts
of the Quayside with help from the
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
Berwick-upon-Tweed, defences
The Medieval and Tudor town defences include the most complete 16th
century town fortifications in Britain.
Local amenity groups are currently
taking the first steps to seeking World
Heritage Site status.
Berwick-upon-Tweed, Ice House
Of importance for the salmon fishing,
and subject of a current project by the
Berwick – upon - Tweed Preservation
Trust to preserve the site and provide
interpretation.
Berwick-upon-Tweed, Dewar’s Lane
Granary
Classified as a building at risk and the
subject of a proposed £3 million project by the Berwick-upon-Tweed Preservation Trust to repair, restore and
convert to multiple uses, including a
Youth Hostel and café / restaurant with
an interpretive centre.
Berwick-upon-Tweed, conservation
area
A Heritage Economic Regeneration
Scheme (HERS), funded by English
Heritage, aims to preserve and enhance
the Conservation Area, promoting the
repair and restoration of traditional
buildings, the reinstatement of lost architectural details and the enhancement
of public open space. This includes
buildings of maritime interest.
Berwick Quayside NT 998 526
The old Quayside formed the original
port and docks of Berwick, the site of
shipbuilding, timber yards and warehouses and home to the fleet of Berwick Smacks, the fastest vessels on the
east coast, built to carry salmon to
London. This very sensitive site in
front of the town walls, east of the
Chandlery, is now being targeted by
development proposals for 40 houses.
The Granary scheme has substantial
funding from HLF, and from the
Northumberland Strategic Partnership,
5
Local Authorities, the Conservation
Grant Scheme and the Berwick Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme
(English Heritage).
The Challenge of Development
All up and down the coast, river and
seafront sites are currently being
scooped up by developers in something approaching a feeding frenzy.
Development is vital for the healthy
survival of our coastal communities,
but this development poses two kinds
of challenge for our maritime heritage. Heritage organisations and local
communities need to engage with the
development control and planning
process to face these challenges.
Firstly, the key architectural and historical features that give localities
their unique character must not be
carelessly obliterated. The second,
and perhaps the far greater challenge,
is to identify how existing and potential maritime service businesses and
marine leisure enterprises can be successfully incorporated into new developments, so that localities maintain a genuine maritime focus and
maritime heritage remains a living
part of community life.
Berwick Barracks and Borough
Museum NU 002 529
Ravensdowne Barracks, begun in
1717, were the first purpose-built barracks in England. The Borough Museum incorporated within the barracks
complex contains a substantial maritime collection, including a Berwick
salmon coble. The Museum was involved in various SeaBritain 2005
events but currently the priority is the
work required for museum accreditation, a substantial task, which for small
museums can preclude any other activities until it is gained.
Berwick Record Office
The Record Office holds important archives of the Port of Berwick, which
administers shipping from St. Abbs to
Amble, and of the salmon fishing industry. The Record Office has been
involved in events such as the Eve of
Trafalgar weekend, September 2005
and in work with local groups.
Tweedmouth NU 995 525
The Residents’ Association has a Local Heritage Initiative (LHI) grant for a
heritage trail by the riverside.
Tweedmouth, Tweed Dock
Tweed Dock was built 1872-77 by the
Berwick Harbour Commissioners to
take vessels too large to use Berwick
Quay. Still a working port, and still
serving the same agricultural and quarrying industries of the Northumberland
hinterland, importing fertiliser and
animal feed and exporting grain and
cement. Opposite the dock, Mill Wharf
is the latest “Contemporary Dockland
Development of 1 and 2 Bed Luxury
Apartments”
Spittal NU 005 515
Once the centre of the salmon fishing
industry and 19th century herring fishing, the long-neglected settlement of
6
Spittal is now, like sites all along the
coast, being gobbled up by residential
development. Spittal fishing shiel is a
listed building, mainly used in the past
for net storage, that the Spittal Improvement Trust is trying to acquire to
conserve and possibly turn into a
Tweed fishing museum.
Saint Aidan landed here from Iona in
the year 635, invited by the Saxon
King Oswald to Christianise Northumbria. His monastery received hostile
visitors from the sea, from Denmark,
in the year 875, and lay in ruins until it
was rebuilt by the Bishop of Durham
in the early 11th century. A Museum on
the site contains a fine collection of
Saxon crosses. In July 2005, 1,138
visitors attended a re-enactment event
commemorating Viking raiders and
pirates from the 8th Century – to be repeated on a larger scale in 2006.
Spittal Point Chimney
A commanding chimney on Spittal
Point related to the chemical industry.
The community and English Heritage
are keen to retain it. It will probably be
taken over by Spittal Improvement
Trust as part of the process to develop
the area.
Lindisfarne Castle
NU 136 417 National Trust
Lindisfarne, Heritage Centre
NU 125 418
Established largely due to the efforts of
Ian McGregor, and with excellent exhibitions on early Christian art and
heritage (which includes a virtual interactive Lindisfarne Gospel) and local
maritime and fishing history. The
high-quality displays were aided by
funding from the HLF and Northern
Rock, and the Centre is the envy of
many other small heritage centres in
that, due to the captive audience of
tourists and pilgrims on the island, it
actually pays its way and generates
enough income to pay staff.
Built 1550 as a fort to protect English
merchant shipping and naval vessels
using Holy Island’s sheltered anchorage. Garrisoned as part of the coastal
defences until 1819, then used by the
coastguard until it fell into dereliction.
It was restored in 1902 by Sir Edwin
Lutyens for Edward Hudson, founder
and editor of Country Life magazine.
The Trust organises events here including Guided Tours and Garden
Talks.
Lindisfarne Priory NU 125 418
English Heritage
7
Lindisfarne, limekilns
NU 137 417
Below the Castle, an impressive bank
of limekilns built in the 1860s to exploit the local limestone and export it
by sea. The National Trust are developing a project to survey and record
the kilns.
Lindisfarne, boat sheds
Below the Castle and around the harbour the upturned old fishing boats or
cobles, cut in half and used as sheds,
are an acknowledged tourist draw.
Two of the boats by the castle were
destroyed by arson in October 2005
and have been replaced by the National
Trust with boats from Scotland that
some would say stand out like a sore
thumb.
Lindisfarne, Fort on the Heugh
NU 126 417
A gun battery built in 1671-75 to defend against seaborne privateers. The
site was the subject of a conservation
project in 1994-5.
A Local Heritage Initiative grant is involving the community in research,
conservation and interpretation of
Lindisfarne’s upturned boats.
8
Farne Islands, St Cuthbert’s
Church, Inner Farne
National Trust NU 218 360
The church contains a memorial to
Grace Darling.
Guile Point, Navigation Beacons
NU 131 405
Immediately to the south of Holy Island, on the mainland promontory of
Guile Point, are two distinctive navigation beacons in the form of elegant
stone pyramids in an East-West alignment, built 1820-1840 for Trinity
House by architect John Dobson.
Bamburgh NU 183 352
On a rocky outcrop of the Whin Sill
rising to 150 ft, believed to have been
fortified since the Iron Age, the castle
as we see it now is substantially a 12th
century fortress with various later additions and alterations. Owned by the
Lord Crewe estates from 1704 to 1894
the castle housed a home for shipwrecked sailors and a lifeboat station
and safety beacon. Purchased and substantially restored by the first Lord
Armstrong it remains the home of the
Armstrong family, now open to the
public with displays which include the
Armstrong Museum featuring the celebrated man’s engineering, shipbuilding
and armaments work. The ongoing
HLF-funded Bamburgh Research Project has been involving the community
in archaeological investigation of the
village and castle since 2003.
Farne Islands
National Trust
An important breeding place for grey
seals and many species of sea birds,
reached by boat from Seahouses.
Whilst for many people wildlife is the
focus of Farne Islands boat trips, the
historic side is not ignored and the
boatmen give a good commentary on
the Grace Darling story.
Farne Islands,
Longstone Lighthouse NU 246 390
A 66 ft tower built 1826 for Trinity
House, Newcastle. The home of Grace
Darling and her father.
Farne Islands,
Inner Farne Lighthouse NU 218 359
A 28ft tower built 1809-11 by Daniel
Alexander. Still an active light but acquired in 2005 by the National Trust
when the light was automated.
Farne Islands,
Prior Castell’s Tower
Farne Island Tower or Prior Castell’s
Tower on Inner Farne was built around
1500 as a monastic building, then used
as a fort and a lighthouse from around
1675, replaced by the new lighthouse
in 1801.
Current excavations on the castle site
are investigating the context of some
outstanding 8th century swords.
9
The village contains two houses in
which Grace Darling once lived. A Local Heritage Initiative project is producing a trail focusing on the village,
Farne Islands and Stag Rocks.
St. Aidan’s Dunes
Between Bamburgh and Seahouses. A
fine example of the dune landscape,
created over the centuries by the interface of land and sea, with the rich
duneland flora that characterises this
coast and which it is vitally important
to conserve and protect.
The Old Parish of Bamburgh Archive
Group (OPBAG) has worked with the
Research Project and with community
writer Katrina Porteous. During a
three-year project funded by the HLF
they collected over 1,000 photographs
and documents on the history of the
village, fishing and the sea.
Seahouses village and harbour
NU 224 322
A small village and harbour built in the
1780s for fishing and lime burning.
Few old buildings survive but parts of
the village, including some smoke
houses, have recently been designated
a Conservation Area by Berwick-uponTweed Borough Council. Now the village is mostly candyfloss, arcades,
kiss-me-quick and chip shops. A big
car park and a public lavatory. This is
the ‘honeypot’ theory in practice, protecting other vulnerable settlements
from over-exploitation.
Bamburgh RNLI Grace Darling
Museum
Currently undergoing a major HLFfunded refurbishment which will include all new interpretation and display of the Grace Darling coble, the
oldest surviving coble. The revamped
museum is seen by agencies such as
the Northumberland Area of Natural
Beauty (AONB) Partnership as a key
piece in the development of the Tourism Strategy for the coast.
The inner harbour was built in 1786 by
Robert Cramond . Four large limekilns,
built around 1820, dominate the quayside. The harbour extensions and pier,
with a small lighthouse, were made for
the later fishing industry in the 1880s
and 1890s. This is the embarkation
point for boat trips to the Farne Islands.
Bamburgh, Churchyard Memorial
to Grace Darling
In the churchyard is Grace Darling’s
grave and a monument to the local
heroine by C R Smith, 1846, which has
received a Local Heritage Initiative
funding for restoration due to the work
of a local group.
10
Seahouses Marine Life and Fishing
Heritage Centre
Beadnell Harbour NU 236 286
An independent, commercial, family
run museum. Many museums have a
gift shop attached; here it may seem to
be the other way round, but tucked
away behind the gift shop you will find
the region’s best collection of artefacts
relating to traditional inshore fishing
and the local fishing community. Primarily a local small business, it does
show obvious commitment to local
heritage, hands-on experience and
genuine community involvement.
The harbour was built around the
1790s to the order of local landowner
John Wood of Beadnell Hall for exporting stone and lime.
The harbour, now owned by the local
fishermen, is listed and ten years ago
benefited from MAFF and EU funding
and extensive fundraising by the local
community through a ‘Harbour in Peril
Fund’ to secure repair after storm damage, commemorated by plaques on the
harbour wall.
Seahouses, the Ship Inn
This pub is crammed with nautical
bric-a-brac, ship models, and lifeboat/lifesaving related items. It holds a
happy and eclectic mix of modern reproduction items and tourist frippery
together with genuine local historic
artefacts and curiosities.
Half a dozen small fishing boats use
the harbour commercially for salmon
netting, including one Craster coble.
11
Beadnell Limekilns National Trust
It is reported that the village of Beadnell is now second only to Grasmere in
the Lake District in the proportion of
its houses that are ‘holiday homes’ and
occupied only for a few weeks in the
summer.
The exceptionally fine group of limekilns on the quayside, built in the
1790s, are now used as fishermen’s
stores. There is a National Trust interpretation panel on the site explaining
their history and use. The kilns urgently require some repair and the
Trust is hoping to commission exploratory work and an engineer’s report,
with help from AONB and English
Heritage funding. Included in the bid
is funding for recording which will
lead to improved interpretation
12
The Last Boat
The Old Boat
Internationally acclaimed poet Katrina
Porteous lives in the little fishing village
of Beadnell where her family have had
connections since the 1930s.
The old boat stands on the bank-top.
Long stains of rust
Run from her scut-irons, beadings. Daylight
Gleams through her rents.
Over the past two decades, Katrina has
chronicled the changes that have overtaken the fishing community and its families, and built up an unparalleled resource of oral history recordings, video,
research and local tradition.
Grass grows around her. Sparrows
Forage in the dry weed.
‘A little worm has getten in ablow the scowbels’
Billy said
The experience of the coast, and the
changes in traditional life, have been
recurrent themes in her poetry.
When Katrina first started working with
the fishing families of Beadnell, fishing
was still rooted in a centuries-old tradition. Working fishermen, old men, remembered what they had learned from
their grandfathers who sailed on the unforgiving North Sea in the days before
fishing boats had engines. These men
are gone. Now the last Beadnell coble,
the Golden Gate, lies untended on the
beach; the village can no longer find her
a crew, nor the skilled hands to keep her
seaworthy. One more winter and perhaps the storms will reduce her to driftwood on the shore.
It is a truism to say that change is a continuous process. There has always been
change in fishing and the fishing communities. But are we now at a point
where, all along the coast, many of the
fishing communities can be said to no
longer exist?
Last winter. So they towed her onto the bank
And left her there
Like an old woman who has lost her reason,
Staring
Blankly at the sea, while the paint peels back:
The grain appears
In swirls and eddies, as if slowly
Returning to the tree;
Though still the straight planks fan
In their lovely curve, the flow
And figure-eight she makes – the geometry of
beauty
Last to go.
They were hoping for a miracle.
That, half a century
After the first-clenched nail, Matthews might
fettle her.
But the years were too many.
This winter, nobody speaks of her.
No one can bear
To smash her up. To burn her. She is the sewing-nail
That holds them there.
She is the last link of the chain
That stretches away to sea, to the horizon.
She is the ruled line.
The end of the line.
Without her
There is no reason.
Katrina Porteous
Katrina’s work includes ‘The Lost Music’
(Bloodaxe, 1993), ‘The Wund an’ the Wetter’
(Iron Press, 1999), ‘Longshore Drift’ (Jardine
Press, 2005). This year she has featured 17
new poems in an exhibition on fishing, The
Blue Lonnen, sponsored by the Northumberland AONB Partnership, complementing the
evocative work of local photographer Nigel
Shuttleworth. She has edited two books on the
history of Beadnell, and ‘The Bonny Fisher
Lad: Memories of the North Northumberland
Fishing Community” (People’s History, 2003).
13
In the sands of Embleton Bay, so the
archaeologists say, is a wreck which
comes and goes as the sands shift …
Beadnell Churchyard
A weathered stone memorial in the
churchyard to a fisherman and his
three sons, drowned together within
sight of the shore.
Embleton Cemetery NU 233 217
In the cemetery at Spital Ford is a
gravestone, Grade II listed, marking
the burial place of nine Norwegian
merchant sailors whose ship, the SS
Pollux, was torpedoed in 1917 by a
German U-boat off Aberdeen. The
crew drifted south for four days in an
open boat until it was picked up off
Dunstanburgh with nine dead on
board.
it reads:
Their grave is in the mighty deep
And they shall rise again through
Christ
When the sea shall give up its dead
In the great day of the Lord
Low Newton by the Sea
A four-mile stretch of coast between
Low Newton by the Sea and Craster is
“owned or protected” by the National
Trust. With car parks at each end it
provides a coastal walk encapsulating
the beauty of the Northumberland
coast, where long sandy beaches
backed by dunes alternate with rocky
outcrops.
Characteristic of the outstanding
beauty of the Northumberland coast,
where sandy bays backed up by dunes
alternate with rocky outcrops.
It tosses up our losses,
The torn seine,
The shattered lobsterpot,
The broken oar,
And the gear of foreign dead
men
From Derek Lundy
The Way of a Ship
Embleton Links
Embleton Cemetery …
14
Dunstanburgh, Novia Scotia, shipwreck
On the rocks 200m south of Dunstanburgh Castle, at a place they call Novia
Scotia, probably a medieval harbour,
lie scattered the last visible remains of
the 82 ton 25m Polish-registered fishing boat MFV GDY-226 which ran
aground in fog on the 28th August
1958.
The responsibility for intertidal remains is an issue. Local authorities’
responsibilities for archaeology stop at
the high water mark.
In front of the Norwegians’ memorial
are the headstones for four seamen and
one soldier lost from the SS Northumbria, January 1919. The ship hit a mine
off Middlesbrough and their lifeboat
was driven 100 miles north by the
weather and washed ashore at Newton,
with eight dead on board and only two
survivors from the ship’s company of
sixty souls.
Dunstanburgh Castle
NU 258 220
According to the tourism authorities,
the juxtaposition of castles and the sea
is key, the ‘Unique Selling Point’
(USP), of the North Northumberland
coast. Dunstanburgh Castle, built about
1314 and largely destroyed during the
Wars of the Roses, is approachable
only by a mile walk from Craster to the
south or Embleton to the north. To
many people this walk is the defining
experience of the coast.
Since 2002 the archaeological remit of
English Heritage has extended to sites
up to 12 miles off the coast.
A recent National Trust field archaeology survey in the castle hinterland
has provided a better understanding of
the setting .
15
The village of Craster is famous for its
kippers and the 19th century smoke
houses, still operated by L Robson and
Sons. The Robsons feature in the
‘Memory Net’ project. The Craster
Community Development Trust has
had Local Heritage Initiative funding
to produce a village history ‘Craster
Living History – Online’
Craster Harbour and village
NU 260 199
Howick, Bathing House
NGR 262 176
On the rocky seashore is a small cottage built for the celebrated Grey family of Howick Hall, to immerse themselves in the Victorian fashion for sea
bathing, with steps leading down to a
sea pool cut out of the rock. It has recently been refurbished as holiday accommodation. In a rocky gully just to
the north of the Bathing House, divers
report still finding scattered fragments
of the British submarine G-11, which
was heading home to its base at Blyth
on news of the Armistice, but struck
the shore in fog, 22nd November 1918.
Craster Memorial Harbour was constructed in memory of Capt. John
Charles Pulleine Craster who was
killed during the British invasion of
Tibet led by Colonel Younghusband in
1904.
The harbour was principally used to
export whinstone from the nearby
quarry (now the car park). The harbour
itself was originally a coastal quarry,
and the concrete construction on the
pier, a popular site with sea anglers, is
the base of an apparatus for loading
boats with stone.
Howick Haven
NU 258 166
The National Trust has covenants with
Lord Howick over this coastal strip. At
Howick Haven archaeologist Clive
Waddington of Newcastle University
has led excavations over several seasons on the site of a Mesolithic coastal
community. The dig uncovered one of
the best-preserved Mesolithic structures (dated to around 7,800 BC) ever
found in Britain. A project on the site
has created a reconstructed Mesolithic
hut, partly funded through featuring in
the BBC’s ‘Meet the Ancestors’ series.
Royal Geographic Society
The Great Game. Officers of Colonel
Younghusband’s Expedition to Tibet,
1904, during which Capt. John Craster
was killed.
16
Boulmer Haven NU 265 135
A couple of expensive new commercial inshore fishing vessels share this
tiny beach haven with a few traditional
cobles, mainly potting for lobsters.
Alnmouth Harbour NU 240 105
Little of the old harbour of Alnmouth
remains, a few private yachts and
pleasure boats lie on the mud by the
silted-up 18th century harbour walls.
Amongst these a pretty 30ft twomasted traditional fishing lugger,
bought by a local businessman enthused by taking part in the ‘Atlantic
Challenge’, and restored with the help
of South Shields boat builder Fred
Crowell.
Alnmouth, lifeboat houses
NU 251 108
By the village golf course and the car
park, are two 19th century lifeboat
houses which are of concern to
Alnmouth Parish Council, which does
not want to see them fall into ruin.
The AONB have provided a grant for
the Parish Council for a feasibility
study on their future use. There are
hopes that they might become a home
for historic fishing vessels such as
Beadnell’s Golden Gate.
On the beach to the east are lines of
World War II anti-tank blocks.
17
World War II defences NU 260 060
Alnmouth, Guano shed
NU 247 095
All along the beach between Alnmouth
and Warkworth, World War II structures, tank traps and pillboxes, are currently being uncovered by the tides and
sometimes literally falling from the
dunes. In the words of English Heritage “Appreciation of a variety of significant historic remains continues to
increase and now embraces defensive
features from World War II”. The
AONB is discussing with Alnwick
District Council how the remains in
this area can be recorded.
South of Alnmouth, across the tidal
estuary and behind the dunes is a further silted up area that was a busy harbour in the 18th century. Here are the
interesting ruins of what has been a
large and well-built warehouse. It has
been suggested it is a ‘guano house’,
built to store imported South American
guano and nitrates for farm fertilizers.
Regionally, there are initiatives for a
major project, co-ordinated by a Steering Group including English Heritage
and academics and involving archaeologists and community volunteers, for
a rapid assessment and recording of
World War II coastal defence remains.
The Fortress Study Group, North East,
a very active group led by Alan Rudd
of Tynemouth, have been studying
wartime coastal remains in the region.
A Grade II listed building, later used
for a barn and pierced with World War
II gun loops, it is owned by Northumberland Estates who are keen to get
permission to re-use it, for example for
holiday accommodation. There is a lot
of local interest and archaeological
work is needed, not least to analyse
some of the muck inside to see if it
might indeed have been guano.
Warkworth Beach,
18
Ships have been built at Amble for
centuries and the Amble Boat Company still builds boats. A commercial
fishing fleet still works from the harbour.
Warkworth Beach, shipwreck?
NU 257 068
Across the estuary the ribs of a number
of quite large wooden vessels protrude
from the mud – possibly longabandoned herring boats?
What ship are you? Are you a ship at
all? On Warkworth beach, more or less
visible depending on the shifting
sands, and teasing the imagination of
generations of holidaymakers and
beachcombers, rusted remains worn
smooth by sand and tide, cut off at
beach level years ago by a scrap merchant’s blowtorch.
Amble Harbour (Warkworth
Harbour) NU 267 048
The main Harbour was built 1838-49,
designed by architect John Rennie. The
town area around Queen Street was a
contemporary development to supplement the harbour. Coal from nearby
collieries was exported from Amble
until 1969, from coal staithes where
now there is the Sunday Market.
19
Coquet Island
NU 293 045
Hadstone Carrs
NU 280 012
The unusual square-towered lighthouse
of 1839-41, 80 ft in height, is said to
have been built to the order of the
Duke of Northumberland to complement the style of Warkworth Castle.
The island is now a nature reserve,
linked by a ‘birdcam’ to Amble so that
visitors can watch nesting seabirds
without disturbing the island.
A concrete block on the beach just below the dunes is a World War II
searchlight base, an example of wartime relics now being moved and undermined by beach erosion. During the
1980s and 1990s various wartime remains, including long lines of anti-tank
blocks southwards all along the bay
were uncovered or shifted by the tides.
Hauxley Haven
NU 288 028
Hauxley is one of Northumberland’s
lost coal ports. Nothing now remains
of the stone piers where coal was
shipped from nearby mines, only the
pattern of the rocky foreshore, uncovered at low tide, reveals there was ever
a harbour here at all. The dunes behind
are rapidly eroding away, leaving the
former haven all at sea.
World War II anti-tank cubes recycled
as a sea wall to prevent further erosion
at Hauxley.
Hemscott Hill, Pillbox
NZ 281 950
Druridge Bay,
20
An unusual World War II gun position
by the roadside behind the dunes, built
in 1939/40 to look like a tumble-down
cottage.
launched daily from the beach, with
the aid of equally venerable tractors.
The Newbiggin fishermen say that
whilst almost every harbour on the
coast once had a boat builder, now
there is nobody between Whitby and
the Border who can build a coble.
Newbiggin by the Sea, Heritage
Centre Church Point NZ 319 880
Blyth Harbour NZ 342 806
Set up by the Newbiggin Heritage Association in 2001, open on summer afternoons only, the Heritage Centre
contains historic fishing artefacts. According to the Centre, ‘Newbiggin was
once a major port, third only to London and Hull for the shipping of corn.”
Newbiggin by the Sea, Lifeboat
Station and cobles NZ 315 880
The oldest operational lifeboat station
in Britain, it dates from 1851.
Before 1800, Blyth consisted of a
small harbour, two shipyards and some
salt pans. Blyth Harbour & Dock Co.,
formed in 1854, developed the port
massively to export coal. By 1914, 5
million tons of coal annually was
shipped out of Blyth, and in 1960 it
was still Europe’s largest exporter of
coal. It has declined since with the decline of the industry. The West Coal
Staithes were completed in 1925 and
have Listed Building status. On Blyth
From beside the Lifeboat Station half a
dozen traditional wooden fishing
cobles, the newest of which is now
over twenty years old, are still
21
Quayside, HLF funding has contributed to an artwork ‘Spirit of the
Staithes’, celebrating the heritage of
the port. Blyth Harbour hosted 7 tall
ships in 2005 in a highly successful
event. The harbour will be a venue for
another Heritage Open Day in September 2006, with guided walks around
the harbour. There is a 15-year plan for
the Port of Blyth to relocate to the
north side of the river, which will free
up the present port site for a ‘mixed
use development’ including heritage
use. Blyth Valley Borough Council
feels very strongly it should be linked
to history, perhaps including the submarine base. Looking to Hartlepool as
an example, the Council has embraced
maritime heritage as a force for regeneration and tourism development with
imagination and enthusiasm.
Across the road from Blyth Dock,
where submarines were stationed, this
Royal Navy land establishment was a
submarine shore base. It has most recently been a correctional school for
Sunderland Council. A war memorial
and a carved statue from the Nautical
School survive. Of the submarine
shore base, only a few nondescript
concrete structures and the remains of
a chapel survive. The site has no statutory protection and is likely to be redeveloped in the near future.
Blyth, Royal Northumberland Yacht
Club, HY Tyne III NZ 342 806
Blyth, Harbour Commissioners’
Office
The Harbour Commissioners’ Office,
built 1913, has an old panelled boardroom (decorated with Dutch glazed
tiles from the SS Walmer Castle vessel
broken up at Blyth in 1934) where all
the port business was done. Also some
artefacts dredged up from the estuary.
Another venue for a Heritage Open
Day in September 2006.
The Yacht Club is on the site of the
World War I and World War II submarine dock. The H Y Tyne III, formerly
the Calshot Spit lightship, a listed historic ship, now serves as the clubhouse
for the Yacht Club. Built in 1879 by an
unknown yard, she is one of the last of
the wooden lightships remaining
afloat. She served on various light stations until she was decommissioned in
1952 and bought by the Yacht Club.
Blyth, Wellesley Nautical School
NZ 318 801
Blyth High Light
NZ 320 814
Bath Terrace, built 1788 for Sir Matthew White Ridley. A further venue for
a Heritage Open Day in September
2006.
22
Heritage Open Days in 2006, a guided
walk will be led by Northumberland
County Council archaeologist Chris
Burgess.
Blyth Library
An exhibition in 2006 in Blyth Library
features the discovery of the continent
of Antarctica by William Smith, a local
sea captain known throughout Blyth as
Northumberland’s Captain Cook. In
1818 in a Blyth brig named the Williams he was rounding Cape Horn, giving it plenty of southing for safety,
when he saw land. He reported his
sighting in Valparaiso and was derided, so he went back south, and
named the island King George Island
and the archipelago the South Shetlands, claiming the first Antarctic Territory for Britain. Smith returned the
following year as pilot to Edward
Bransfield when they surveyed the
South Shetland Islands and discovered
and charted the Antarctic Peninsula at
64°S.
Blyth Links NZ 320 795
The site of considerable regeneration
work by Blyth Valley BC and a wider
a partnership. Also of an ongoing
HLF-funded project run by the Dove
Marine Laboratory in which the community has become involved in coastal
monitoring and management.
Blyth Battery NZ 321 793
Blyth, Gloucester Battery
NZ 321 785
Just south of Blyth Battery and across
the road are the extensive remains of
World War II anti-aircraft batteries, on
private land owned by the Blagdon estate.
Seaton Sluice
NZ 339 767
Visible remains of the once-important
18th and 19th century harbour works
include the Octagon, formerly the dock
office, and the ‘Cut’, the channel cut
through solid rock in 1761-64 to improve the harbour. The inner harbour
was restored by the Seaton Sluice Harbour Restoration Association between
1952 and 1965.
On the links south of the town, with
Scheduled Ancient Monument status,
the remains of a World War I and
World War II coastal defence fort and
searchlight station, the most complete
example of a coastal defence complex
on the North East coast. The future of
Blyth Battery is a big issue locally, it is
owned by Blyth Valley Borough Council, and a HLF funded project is looking at ambitious plans for preservation
and future use. Blyth Valley Borough
Council wants it to be a heritage visitor
attraction of regional significance, and
is committed to seeing it through as
part of the BVBC Cultural Strategy.
Another of Blyth’s planned venues for
The Seaton Sluice Old Harbour Local
History Society maintains a website at
www.seaton-sluice.co.uk and runs a
full programme of meetings and
events.
Seaton Sluice Watch House
23
NZ 338 768
Hartley, Coastal Defences
NZ 343 758
On Rocky Island is the brick built
Watch House, a Grade II listed building of 1880 built as HQ and lookout
point for the Seaton Sluice Volunteer
Life Saving Company. A small timber
construction on the cliff edge is the
Company’s lookout tower built 1925.
The Watch House remained in use as
an Auxiliary Coastguard Station until
1990, and has since been maintained
by Blyth Valley Borough Council as a
museum. Blyth Valley’s only museum,
it is currently being redeveloped under
a HLF “Your Heritage” grant. This
project will secure the future of the
building and its small collection of
maritime exhibits, including photographic and written records of the Seaton Sluice Volunteer Lifesaving Company and historic lifesaving equipment. Venue for a Heritage Open Day,
September 2006.
The Fort House has an octagonal tower
dating to 1917, which housed the
rangefinders for the guns of nearby
Roberts Battery, another venue for a
Heritage Open Day in 2006.
The boundary wall includes a World
War I pillbox. Grade II listed buildings
include listed ablutions block and a
defensible latrine.
St. Mary’s Island and Lighthouse NZ
353 755
On a tidal island, ‘Bait Island’. The
lighthouse built 1897-8, decommissioned 1984 and now a visitor centre
run by North Tyneside Council.
24
Whitley Bay, Spanish City
NZ 355 725
Tunnel of Love
And girl it looks so pretty to me
just like it always did
Like the Spanish City to me when
we were kids
…
And now I am searching through
these carousels and the carnival
arcades
Searching everywhere from
steeplechase to palisades
In any shooting gallery where
promises are made
To Rockaway, Rockaway from
Cullercoats and Whitley Bay out
to Rockaway
Theatre and pleasure gardens built in
ferro-concrete 1908-1910, Spanish
City symbolised seaside holidays and
fairground romance to generations of
Geordies, but its customer base has
now jetted off to Florida and Faliraki
for their fun and frolics.
Mark Knopfler / Dire Straits
The amusement park finally closed in
the early 1990s and is now under redevelopment. A £60 million ‘Spanish
City Island, Whitley Bay Seafront Regeneration Masterplan, 2005’, from
North Tyneside Council sees a complex featuring a refurbished theatre and
leisure pool and a new library, housing
and hotel development, retaining the
famous dome.
25
Cullercoats Rocket House
John Street NZ 363 714
Cullercoats Life Brigade apparatus
house, or Rocket House, built 1867.
Now used as a car repair workshop.
The Dove Marine Laboratory
Joint Responsibility in Managing
our Marine Heritage
The Dove Marine Laboratory influences
policy decisions relating to the marine environment by working in partnerships including:
Regional local authorities
The Sea Fisheries Committees
Statutory bodies such as English Nature
and the Environment Agency
NGOs such as the National Trust and Wildlife Trusts
Industry partners such as Seabait Ltd, and
Akzo Nobel
The Laboratory has never been an isolated
scientific institution but has always shared
close links both with the international research community and with the local community. Over the past ten years there have
been a succession of very successful Dove
projects involving the community and local
groups to raise awareness of environmental
issues.
Cullercoats RNLI Lifeboat Station
NZ 364 714
The boathouse was built in 1896.
Cullercoats lifeboat crew took part in
‘Memory Net’.
An important example of this has been
work with the Blyth Links Conservation
Group where the group has recorded information on erosion, sand shifts and
changes.
A recent three-year phase of the project
‘The North Sea – A Sustainable Future’,
funded by the HLF, the Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation, the Catherine Cookson Foundation, and others, has contributed to Blyth
Valley Borough Council’s plan for management of the degraded dunes area.
Dove Marine Laboratory
NZ 364 713
Started on this site in 1897 as a Fisheries Committee research facility, the
present building dates from 1908.
Another project has worked with fishermen in Blyth and North Shields to try and
bring their knowledge, experience and
skills into marine management. This has
involved fishermen monitoring recording
their sightings of cetaceans (whales, porpoises and dolphins) – sightings which
have always occurred on a daily basis since
time immemorial but never before been
systematically monitored and fed into the
scientific record.
With a century-long history of community engagement, the Laboratory,
now part of Newcastle University, the
Laboratory is currently engaged in
various HLF funded projects to involve the community in marine and
coastal research and management.
26
English Heritage
NZ 373 694
Cullercoats Life Brigade
Watch House NZ 364 714
A fortified headland with ruined 13th
century Priory and extensive defences
dating from medieval and Tudor periods through to World War I gun batteries. Within the priory site, one six-inch
gun has been re-instated and there is
one 1859 coastal artillery piece.
The Lookout House, Victoria Crescent,
built 1877-79 for Cullercoats Life Brigade. A project run by the Dove Marine Laboratory with Cullercoats Primary School is looking at the three
buildings in Cullercoats Bay, the Marine Laboratory, the Life Brigade
Watch House and the Lifeboat Station,
and will look at social and cultural history, the world famous Cullercoats
school of artists, and the history of
fishing and the shore environment.
There are currently issues over the
Coastguard building recently vacated
on the site. In 2005 English Heritage
ran a number of SeaBritain–related
events including an ‘Eve of Trafalgar’
weekend and the local Tynemouth
Pageant performed their outdoor theatre based on the story of shipwrecks –
‘Beware the Black Middens’.
Close to the shore here lies the wreck
of the ‘Inga’, lost in the Great Storm of
1901 and being investigated by an LHI
Maritime Archaeology Project, which
is also looking at the Volunteer Life
Brigade.
Tynemouth Castle and Priory
27
Collingwood Monument
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
Watch House NZ 373 691
1845-1847, the base and plinth by
Dobson, the statue of Admiral
Collingwood, hero of Trafalgar, by
Lough, includes four cannon from
Collingwood’s ship Royal Sovereign.
A wooden building, built 1886-7 by
the Borough Engineer C T Gomoszynski for the first Life Brigade in England. Subject of an HLF Project Planning grant in 2003-5 for repair and
conservation of the Watch House and
Caretaker’s Cottage. The watch house
is still the HQ of an active Life Brigade, and also functions as a museum
with a wonderful collection of original
artefacts relating to shipwreck and sea
rescue. The headland on which the
Watch House stands also evidences the
remains of various gun batteries from
the 16th century Spanish Battery to 20th
century concrete gun emplacements.
Some of the Life Brigade Volunteers
took part in ‘Memory Net’.
28
Tynemouth, North Tyne Pier
NZ 375 693
North Shields, lights
NZ 361 683 & 363 684
The ‘New High Light’, 1808, and the
Low Light, 1807, are both now very
desirable private houses.
Built 1854-95 for the Tyne Improvement Commissioners, with a lighthouse.
North Tyneside Library,
Local Studies Centre
Holds very large collections of local
shipbuilding and fishing photographs.
An oral history project is collecting
memories of life in those industries.
North Shields, Stag Line Building,
Howard Street
Originally built in 1807 as the Tynemouth Literary and Philosophical Society Library, became the HQ of the
Stag Line Shipping Company in 1869.
The company closed in 1983 but the
building, now the North Shields Registry Office, still bears the Stag Line
emblem. It is one of a number of locations in this survey where you could
marry, if you had a mind to. You could
also get married aboard the Trincomalee, or on the rather less attractive
steel ‘Endeavour’ replica in Stockton.
29
North Shields Fish Quay NZ 362 684
North Shields, Clifford’s Fort
NZ 364 685
Built to protect the mouth of the Tyne
during the Dutch Wars of the 1670s.
The fort walls and gun embrasures survive amongst later buildings for the
fish processing industry. On the national ‘Buildings at Risk’ register,
preservation and interpretation of these
is a key feature on North Tyneside’s
current regeneration of the Fish Quay
area.
There are extensive redevelopments
now taking place within the North
Shields Fish Quay and New Quay
Conservation Areas. North Tyneside
Council are working with FISH (Folk
Interested in Shields Harbour) to preserve the character of the area and a
sub group of FISH, FISHcast, has produced a ‘Community Character Statement’ for the area. Still a working fishing harbour, this is the country’s largest port for landing Nephrops (scampi,
or Dublin Bay prawns) and has a large
fish processing trade and the country’s
only fish filleting school.
North Shields, Smoke Houses
NZ 364 685
Grade II listed, built in the 1800s in
connection with Clifford’s Fort and
river defence and used for military
mine storage in World War I, later
used as fish smoking houses, now being refurbished for small business use.
North Shields, Fishermen’s Mission
Union St.
In 1899 a building on Union Street was
converted to become the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen.
Rebuilt on a new site on Union Quay
in 1950, on the site of the former ‘Lord
Collingwood’ public house. Still operating and featured on ‘Memory Net’.
John Hume, of North Tyneside Council
describes the plans for the Fish Quay
site.
30
North Shields, Low Dock
North Shields, The Porthole
Liddell Street NZ 357 682
The Porthole public house is the venue
for the monthly meetings of the Tyne
to Tweed Group of the Coble and
Keelboat Society, the largest and most
active grass roots preservation group in
the region.
North Shields, Smith’s Dock
NZ 355 676
The only graving dock on the Tyne
which is protected by listing. Early 19th
century, preserved as a feature within
Development Corporation housing developments, an early phase of Riverside Regeneration.
This is a big site, one of the last big
working shipyards to close. Planning
permission has been granted in 2006
for a residential-led scheme of 1,200
houses with ancillary shops and service businesses.
One graving dock will be preserved as
a water feature. Two others will not be
filled in but will be converted into underground car parks.
North Shields, Crane House
Opposite the North Shields Ferry landing and the gates of Smiths Dock, the
Chain Locker public house, also
known as the Crane House, built in
1904, is being partially ‘preserved’ in a
housing development. In the words of
FISHcast “opinion is divided” over the
new building.
31
The Tyne in 1886
Industrial Tyneside
Upstream from Smiths Dock, on both
sides of the river, up to the tidal limit
at Newburn, the historical topography
of Tyneside is a complex palimpsest
of maritime-related industrial sites.
Sites of former and present engineering and chemical works and a host of
other industries interlock with the sites
of shipyards and engine works, docks,
quays, harbours and slipways, large
and small, that made Tyneside one of
the great seaports of the world.
The shipyards date back to the 17th
century. In 1642 a House of Commons
Committee designated Newcastle “the
nursery of shipbuilding” and Daniel
Defoe said of Tyneside “they build
ships here to perfection – as to
strength and firmness, and to bear the
sea.” There is a continuity of use of
sites through time, to the repair yards,
offshore engineering works, freight
and ferry terminals and fuel depots
still in use today.
Some of this maritime heritage is visible. Much is not, and almost nothing
at all has any interpretation on site,
which is deplorable. Only a few examples can be highlighted in this brief
survey – but many books are published on Tyneside’s maritime history.
In the early years of the twentieth century, global trade and industrialisation
laid the infrastructure for the modern
world. Empire and emigration drew its
political map. It was ships that enabled
this process, thousands of great oceangoing ships. Without them it couldn’t
have happened. And throughout those
years the yards of Tyne and Wear, one
ten-mile strip of coast, consistently built
a greater tonnage of ships than the whole
of the rest of the world put together.
Their products were marvels of imagination, creativity and human endeavour,
and they changed the world.
For an overview of Tyneside’s 20th
century maritime sites look at the
large 1929 model newly re-displayed
in the Discovery Museum’s ‘Story of
the Tyne’ gallery.
The Historical Environment Record
(HER) maintained by Tyne and Wear
Archaeology is the authoritative
source of information. The excellent
online version ‘Sitelines’ is the best
and most accessible reference.
32
Albert Edward Dock / Royal Quays
NZ 353 669
Opened in 1884 for coal and general
freight, parts of the dock have survived
as a marina in the redevelopment of
Royal Quays. Surviving listed structures include lock walls and gates and
the Accumulator Tower of 1882.
Howden, Northumberland
NZ 338 662
Wallsend, Swan Hunter’s Shipyard
NZ 303 658
The last yard building ships on the
Tyne. What could be the last naval
vessel built there, the massive Royal
Fleet Auxiliary logistics ship Lyme
Bay, launched 2005, did not finish fitting out and has been moved to BAE at
Govan, against a background of what
the MoD term ‘management problems’.
Dock
Newcastle, St. Peter’s Basin
NZ 275 635
Built 1850, covered 55 acres and was
the terminal for colliery railways from
all over South East Northumberland.
Now filled in with only the entrance
visible.
The site of St Peter’s Dock and shipyards where ocean going sailing ships
had been built since 1756. Within
walking distance of the City Centre, St
Peter’s was one of the first North East
docks to be redeveloped, from the
1980s, as a marina and housing complex. Amongst the yachts and motor
cruisers there are a few preserved historic boats currently berthed in the marina, including Peter Weightman’s
Seahouses fishing boat ‘Rachel Douglas’, beautifully restored at Fred Crowell’s yard and re-launched in June
2006.
Wallsend, Segedunum
The museum, mainly devoted to the
Roman site, has a small Industry Gallery with three of four exquisite
builder’s models of ships built at Swan
Hunter’s. The 9-storey observation
tower gives an overview of the yard.
Segedunum has been discussed as one
possible site (the other being Arbeia at
South Shields) for building a replica
Roman ship.
33
The little seine netter the ‘Favourite’
in original unrestored condition is a
1940’s fishing boat, ex Seahouses and
St. Abbs, that Peter has acquired for
restoration by the North East Maritime
Trust.
Newcastle upon Tyne,
Spillers Tyne Mill
NZ 269 637
Imposing white building of reinforced
concrete, built 1937. The adjacent
Spillers Quay is often used by naval
vessels such as HMS Tyne, seen here
on a goodwill visit to the City, July
2006.
Peter Weightman with the ’Favourite’ at St.
Peter’s Basin
34
Newcastle upon Tyne, Trinity House
Broad Chare
Newcastle upon Tyne, Ouseburn
NZ 267 642
Tidied up a bit in recent years, this has
always been a popular place for people
mooring and restoring old boats. Most
of the boats up the Ouseburn now are
converted ships’ lifeboats of various
kinds.
At the time of writing there were also
some cobles moored there, the Royal
Diadem II owned by Peter Weightman
and the Joan Dixon, which was formerly in the Seahouses Heritage Centre for 18 years but was recently ejected to make room for a trout pool.
Headquarters of the Guild of Masters
and Mariners since the 16th century,
parts are Grade I listed. Buildings of
various dates, a banqueting hall,
chapel, almshouses and rigging loft
surround a courtyard and contain an
important collection of ship models,
paintings and other maritime memorabilia.
Victoria Tunnel NZ 263 642
The Victoria Tunnel is an early Victorian Grade II listed structure built to
transport coal to the River Tyne from a
colliery at Spital Tongues, north west
of Newcastle upon Tyne's town centre.
As well as being used as a coal
waggonway, it was also used as an airraid shelter during World War II. A
local group is currently active in access
and interpretation, but access is not
always possible for safety reasons.
The former Trinity Maritime Centre
was closed in 2004 and much of the
museum collection transferred to Tyne
& Wear Museums. Between 1999 and
2002, Trinity House benefited from
£212,000 of HLF funding for repair
and refurbishment. Although theoretically open to the public by appointment, access is not easy. This is an issue that perhaps needs to be addressed.
35
Take to the lifeboats
A raggle-taggle fleet of small boats ismoored along the banks of the Ouseburn in Newcastle. A few of them are
traditional fishing cobles preserved and
restored by members of the Coble and
Keelboat Society. Most of the others
were originally ships’ lifeboats of various kinds.
Until the 1960s and 1970s, ships’ lifeboats were usually built of wood, and
regulations required both merchant and
naval vessels to regularly replace their
lifeboats. This resulted in a plentiful
supply of seaworthy and well-built
small wooden boats suitable for DIY
conversion to yachts or motor boats. In
the 1950s and 1960s a surplus lifeboat
could be purchased for as little as £10.
Lifeboats were boats were built to standard and fairly traditional patterns.
Books and magazines published blueprints for the enthusiast, and thousands
of conversions were carried out with
varying degrees of skill. They were all
somebody’s dream of going to sea.
Some of the results can be found not
only on the Ouseburn, but at harbours
and marinas all along the coast, and
now represent a modern vernacular tradition.
36
Tyne and Wear Archives Service
Blandford Square
Newcastle upon Tyne, Quayside,
Custom House 39 Quayside
Grade II* listed, built 1766, re-fronted
by Sidney Smirke 1830s. Used by the
Customs and Excise until 2000. Interior refurbished as offices 2003.
In Blandford Square, sharing a building with the Discovery Museum, the
Archives hold huge quantities of records from the shipyards of the Tyne
and Wear, collections which are of
world importance. HLF funding has
enabled an initial report and survey on
these, and more such work to make the
material accessible is a regional priority.
See the section on Archives and Libraries later in this survey.
Newcastle upon Tyne, Swing Bridge
NZ 253 637
Built 1868-76 for the Tyne Improvement Commissioners. Operated by hydraulic engines supplied by Sir W G
Armstrong & Co. and powered by
steam until 1959 when converted to
electric pumps. Still operational.
Fish Market
The Fish Market built in 1880, surmounted by a statue Neptune, attended
by two Tyne fishwives, now enjoying
beneficial use as the ‘Sea’ nightclub.
Newcastle City Library,
Local Studies
The local studies collection has been
moved to the Civic Centre during the
summer of 2006, where it will be
available for public use whilst a new
library building is under development.
The publishing arm of Newcastle Libraries, Tyne Bridge Publishing, publish a great deal of material including
work on ships and shipbuilding by
Dick Keys, Ken Smith and a number
of other hugely knowledgeable local
enthusiasts and scholars.
Medieval Merchant’s House
35 The Close
The latest in many different uses for
this timber-framed medieval merchant’s house and warehouse, with its
own wharf, is as the “Quayside” restaurant and bar,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Discovery
Museum, Blandford Square
Formerly the Museum of Science and
Industry, the Discovery museum
houses the important pioneering steam
turbine vessel Turbinia and a world
class collection of builders’ and owners’ ship models, many of which are
displayed in the new ‘Story of the
Tyne’ gallery, with two full-size cobles
and other maritime material. Since
1999 the Museum has benefited from
over £8 million of HLF funding.
See the section on Museums in Part 2
of this survey.
Newcastle University Library, Special Collections
The library holds significant maritime
material. During 2006 there is a special
exhibition of maritime heritage items
from the collections.
37
Laing Art Gallery
Maritime art is an important and sometimes overlooked feature of the region’s heritage. The Laing holds significant works by 19th and 20th century
marine artists.
The Maritime Heritage in Art
The sea, ships, the coast and the
people of the coastal communities
have always been an inspiration for
artists. It would need a whole volume to even begin to list and do
justice to the range and depth of
maritime art collections in the region and to explore their contributions to the region’s heritage.
The Brig Sicily, off Tynemouth
by John Scott (1802-1885),
in South Shields Museum
Works by artists such as John
Wilson Carmichel, Charles Napier
Hemy, John Charlton, Louis
Grimshaw, John Scott, John
Falconer Slater, George Balmer,
Robert Jobling and the members of
the ‘Staithes Group’ and the
‘Cullercoats Group’ and many others can be found in the Laing Art
Gallery in Newcastle, the Shipley
in Gateshead, in Sunderland and
South Shields Museums, Durham
Art Gallery, Bowes Museum and a
score of other museums, galleries
and collections across the region
from Berwick Town Hall in the
north to Hartlepool Art Gallery in
the south.
This impressive legacy of marine
art is a unique facet of heritage in
that it not only gives us a wealth
of historical information, on
ships, on the topography of the
coast, townscapes and harbours,
and the detail of the lives of people living on the coast, but it also
shares with us the experience, the
perception and the subjective
feelings and emotions of the artists and their contemporaries. It
gives us a window into the soul of
the maritime North East.
Marine art is very much a living
tradition, with many of the contemporary artists working in the
region today drawing their themes
and inspiration from the coast.
38
Newcastle upon Tyne, Alvis Vickers,
Armstrong’s Elswick Works
NZ 205 635
This site on Scotswood Road has
hosted a continuity of armaments
engineering from its beginning as
William Armstrong’s first small
Elswick factory in 1847 to the present
day. At one time Armstrong’s Elswick
and Scotswood works extended for
over a mile along the riverside.
How many of today’s visitors to
Armstrong’s stately pleasure domes at
Cragside and Bamburgh Castle realise
exactly what the opulence of these
palaces was based on? Armstrong was
the great warmonger, in its truest literal sense.
Sir W G Armstrong’s Elswick
Works
He made much of his fortune creating
and selling engines of destruction to
the rival empires of the world. That
may not be what the visitors of today
want to hear, but it is nonetheless our
heritage.
Armstrong’s businesses provide a
truly remarkable example of visionary
technical ingenuity and innovation
combined with a masterful vertical
integration of the manufacturing process. By the early 1900s Armstrong
directly owned and controlled everything from the mining of iron ores in
the remote hills of Upper Redesdale,
the blast furnaces and steel works, the
crafting of nuts, bolts and ballbearings, the fabrication of ships and
the casting of massive guns, through
to the launch from his Elswick and
Walker yards of fully-finished ironclads and dreadnoughts for delivery to
the Imperial navies of Japan and
Russia, amongst many other global
customers.
39
Gateshead, Maiden’s Walk,
Coal Drops NZ 257 637
Subject of a recent HLF project for
restoration and interpretation.
Gateshead, Dunston Staithes
NZ 235 626
Supposedly the largest wooden building in Europe, built in 1893 and has
Listed Building status. In use until the
1970s, finally closed in 1980.
Gateshead Quayside, River Tyne
Police Station, Pipewellgate
Immediately upstream of the Swing
Bridge, built in 1911 for the Tyne Improvement Commissioners, as the Harbourmaster’s Office and River Police
Station. Now trades as the Ristorante
La Riviera.
Gateshead Quayside,
Tuxedo Princess
A famous modern Tyneside maritime
tradition, moored just downstream of
the Tyne Bridge. Following its predecessor Tuxedo Royale, a ‘ship of fools’
where for twenty years students and
clubbers have been able to embark and
make themselves extremely sick without the inconvenience of going to sea.
Gateshead Quayside,
Baltic Flour Mill
Hebburn, Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard
NZ 307 657
Closed in 1981 having built ships for
over a century. From 1987 the redundant dry dock was home to HMS Cavalier, the last surviving World War II
destroyer in Britain, acquired by South
Tyneside Council as part of a proposed
Tyneside maritime museum. The museum never materialised and in 1999
Cavalier went to Chatham Historic
Dockyard in Kent where she is on display, possibly to become a national
memorial to the 30,000 seamen who
died on the 150 destroyers sunk in action during World War II.
The Hawthorn Leslie site still lies
derelict and awaits redevelopment,
currently (June 2006) the site of confrontations between the police and
scrap metal scavengers.
Rank’s Baltic Flour Mill and grain
warehouse, built 1949, reborn as Baltic
Centre for Contemporary Art, 2002.
One North East give the number of
visitors to Baltic in 2004 as a staggering 445,931, which, if correct, would
place it as the second biggest visitor
destination in the region, behind New
Metroland (1,250,000 customers) and
slightly ahead of the Discovery Museum (440,968), Kielder Water
(400,000), Alnwick Garden (375,000),
Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens
(320,628)
and
Beamish
(317,860).
Photo: Shields Gazette
40
are working with consultants and talking to local residents and businesses to
develop a ‘Masterplan’ for the redevelopment.
One World War II warship built at
Hawthorn Leslie survives in Britain.
The tank landing craft ‘Landfall’ built
in 1944 is currently laid up at Birkenhead, with an uncertain future, various
preservation initiatives, for example by
the Warships Preservation Trust, having apparently foundered. Is Tyneside
interested in saving just one of its
World War II ships?
Jarrow, Tyne Dock NZ 353 653
Built 1859, at its peak in 1908 shipped
7.5 million tons of coal. Coal shipping
ceased in 1967 and the Staithes were
demolished. Though much reduced in
size, Tyne Dock is still an operational
port.
South Tyneside Council’s Project Manager
Claire Cardinal explains the ‘Masterplan’
South Shields Custom House
NZ 357 668
The Mill Dam Conservation Area (including the Customs House arts complex) is in the middle of the overall
South Tyneside Riverside Regeneration plan area. The Grade II listed Customs House, 1863, restored in the
1990s, with funding from the Tyne &
Wear Development Corporation, is an
arts venue with a huge remit from
South Tyneside Council and the Arts
Council to go out into the community.
263,000 people used the Customs
House in 2005.
The Opening of Tyne Dock in 1859, by John
Scott (1802-1885), in South Shields Museum
South Shields, Aker McNulty’s Yard
NZ 353 661
Since the removal by the MoD of the
unfinished RFA Lyme Bay from Swan
Hunter’s Wallsend yard to Govan in
July 2006, this yard just across the
river might be the last of the old yards
still working on the Tyne.
South Shields, Middle Docks
NZ 356 665
A huge 60-acre site between the Customs House and Tyne Dock. South
Tyneside Council are acquiring the
site, with the help of One North East
and the Tyne and Wear Partnership, for
a mixed development. Seen as a key
project that will define the character of
the area for generations to come, South
Tyneside Council and One North East
Next to the Customs House (upstream)
is the old River Tyne Commissioners
Police Station now also part of the arts
complex. Behind the Police Station is a
former banana warehouse now a multiuse gallery and community space, and
behind that the morgue, which was
41
where bodies pulled out of river were
kept and autopsies performed (until
1976). This is now home to Creative
Partnerships (“One of Tony Blair’s big
things” as the Arts Centre manager
puts it), an arts outreach and education
partnership.
South Shields,
Harton Low Staithes
NZ 358 669
Immediately upstream of the Ferry
Landing, South Tyneside Council have
a partnership development proposal for
a complex involving a new South
Tyneside Library and a new purposebuilt home for Tyne and Wear Archives Service. No actual designs for
buildings exist yet but a project proposal has gone to the Big Lottery
Fund. A decision is due by August 25th
2006. The land has been “remediated”
[i.e. decontaminated] and awaits redevelopment.
South Shields,
Merchant Marine Memorial
NZ 357 668
Erected 1990 in memory of the thousands of merchant seamen who sailed
from Shields and lost their lives in
World War II.
South Shields,
Market Dock
NZ 359 673
The former dock area at Low Row,
Captain’s Wharf and Broad Landing
has been redeveloped for housing since
1995. The post-modernist ‘marina
style’ housing has a few nautical motifs that the architects may have based
on pre-existing buildings in the area or
may have just taken from the AutoCAD clipart folder. Similarly the
stainless steel ‘sailing ship’ sculpture
in the stagnant-looking retained dock
feature. The Market Dock North site
forms part of the former Brigham &
Cowen’s shipyard and had been the
site of shipyards since the 1750s. Reclaimed and ‘remediated’ by the Tyne
& Wear Development Corporation,
planning permission was granted for
5690 sq m of offices on Market Dock
North in 2005 and work is expected to
start in 2006.
‘Of the ships that went ‘missing’
we know nothing at all, no maritime version of a ‘black box’ to
play back the courage or panic of
the last moments Their men died
without a sound or sign’.
Derek Lundy
42
South Shields, Wapping Street
NZ 359 679
South Shields Museum and
Art Gallery, Ocean Road
Includes excellent exhibitions of maritime material, ship models, and marine
paintings. The events programme for
2006 includes “Beachwear Then and
Now”, “Postcards from the Beach” and
“Treasures of the Sea - from the Hancock Museum”.
Fred Crowell, the last builder of
wooden boats working on the Tyne,
has his boatyard and slipway here on
Corporation Quay.
Next door to Fred’s yard, and guided
by his expertise, the recently formed
North East Maritime Trust has leased
premises from the Council where they
are restoring the lifeboat Henry Frederick Swan and plan to create a centre
of expertise in the restoration of vernacular craft and the preservation and
transmission of maritime craft skills.
River Tyne, South Pier Lighthouse
NZ 374 687
South Shields Groyne Lighthouse NZ
369 683
(see also the Case Study ‘Tall Ships
and Small Ships’ in the third part of
this survey).
43
South Shields Volunteer
Life Brigade Watch House
NZ 373 678
Preserved lifeboats
Grade II Listed building on the South
Pier, built 1867, contains equipment
and memorabilia. Restored with an
HLF grant, 2000. The Brigade is still
operational.
Princess Royal, Hartlepool
The life-saving lifeboats of the RNLI
and many other services around the
world can trace their origin to the
boats developed by Henry Greathead
and William Wouldhave of South
Shields in the early 1800s.
South Shields, South Marine Park
NZ 373 675
A prime example of a Victorian seafront urban park, subject of a £3 million application for HLF funding for
restoration.
Besides the Tyne lifeboat at South
Shields, a number of historic lifeboats
are preserved or under restoration in
the region, including:-
The lifeboat Henry Frederick Swan
at the North East Maritime Trust.
South Shields, Lifeboat Memorial
NZ 370 675
The 1939 RNLI Hartlepool lifeboat
Princess Royal, restored by a small
Trust and berthed in Hartlepool Marina.
Built to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden
Jubilee in 1887 the memorial features
lifeboat pioneers William Wouldhave
and Henry Greathead. Preserved at the
monument is the 1833 South Shields
lifeboat ‘Tyne’.
A former Filey RNLI lifeboat in private ownership, currently on the quay
at Hartlepool.
The 1972 Redcar RNLI lifeboat Sir
James Knott at Kirkleatham Museum.
The oldest surviving lifeboat, the 1802
Zetland lifeboat built by Henry Greathead, preserved at the RNLI Zetland
Lifeboat Museum, Redcar.
44
South Tyneside College
NZ 373 659
Marsden Bay NZ 397 653
At the foot of the concrete stairs down
to the beach from the links, just north
of the Grotto, there is a remarkably
ugly concrete former lifeguard station
which the National Trust would like to
demolish and replace. The lower steps
are, according to the Trust “damaged,
horrible and dangerous” and they need
a project to upgrade them and enable
better access to the beach.
(See the feature on the National Trust
in the second part of this survey).
Formed as the South Shields Marine
School in 1861 with premises on
Ocean Road, training boys to go to sea
until 1950. From 1951-1954 as South
Shields Marine and Technical College
it offered a broader curriculum but still
specialised in maritime studies. In
1957 it moved to Westoe. Incorporating Hebburn Technical College in
1984 it became South Tyneside College and still offers quality marine
courses with a worldwide reputation.
Whitburn, Souter Lighthouse
National Trust NZ 408 642
Trow Quarry NZ 383 666
Presided over by a re-instated naval
gun. An old coastal quarry for stone
exports, later used as a domestic waste
landfill site in the 1950s and 1960s.
There is now concern over tidal erosion of the site disturbing toxic and
dangerous waste. A South Tyneside
council employee monitoring the site
told us “It’s the sea that causes all the
problems”.
Opened 1871, built by Sir James N
Douglas for Trinity House, the most
technologically advanced lighthouse of
its day. Engine room, light tower and
living quarters on view, with exhibitions on historic and contemporary
themes related to lighthouses, the perils of the sea and shipwreck.
Various events were held for SeaBritain 2005 and the Festival of the Sea. A
full National Trust Events Programme
for 2006 includes guided walks, local
history lectures, rallies and theatre
events.
45
Sunderland Volunteer Life Brigade
Watch House Pier View, Roker
A working HQ for Search and Rescue,
the Watch House also houses some
historic collections.
Sunderland, River Wear Piers
NZ 416 581 and 411 528
Constructed and improved continually
between 1723 and 1914
Ron Keld of Sunderland Maritime
Heritage, retired ship’s engineer.
Behind him in Hudson Dock, the
Steam Tug Pallion, built c.1942 now
lying in Hudson Dock, Sunderland
Sunderland North Dock NZ 407 585
North Dock built 1837. Converted to a
marina by the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation in the 1980s. The
dock walls are listed.
Sunderland South Docks NZ 412 567
South Dock built and enlarged between 1846 and 1904. Gladstone
Swing Bridge 1875. Dock Office 1850.
Formerly used for shipping coal, much
of the dockyard is semi-derelict but
part is still working.
Ron Keld, with his model of the
Pallion at the Church Street workshop.
The Sunderland Maritime Heritage
group has a presence in the old South
Dock Office. The future of South Dock
is a big current issue and is a key part
of the present discussions about how
the City of Sunderland can best address its maritime heritage.
The Willdora in Hudson Dock. Originally a Scottish ‘Zulu’ class fishing
boat built 1901, one of the Dunkirk
‘little ships’, now privately owned by a
SMH member. The Trust is raising
money to purchase her.
A consultant’s report is awaited. Will
Sunderland get a new Maritime Museum? Or perhaps another shopping
mall with some token heritage presence?
(See also the Case Study on Sunderland in the third part of this survey).
Sunderland Maritime Heritage,
Church Street
Formed as a pressure group to save the
once-magnificent Sunderland built
clipper ship City of Adelaide, which is
still languishing on a slipway at Irvine
and facing imminent ‘recorded decon-
46
struction’. The group has premises in
the Dock Offices and in an industrial
unit in Church Street, open to the public, where a number of wooden boats
are conserved, repaired and constructed. Sunderland Maritime Heritage are still campaigning for a Maritime Centre for the City.
Sunderland Old Town
The Friends of Sunderland Old Parish
Church have a Local Heritage Initiative project recording the past of Sunderland as a seaport, including an oral
history project and heritage trails and
guided walks through the Old Town.
Sunderland, S.P. Austin & Son’s
Shipyard NZ 397 575
Just below the Wear bridge, a prime
site with a superb visual position, excellent road access and parking, and an
empty dock just waiting for an iconic
historic ship to form the centrepiece of
a Maritime Heritage Centre that could
be instrumental in regenerating the
whole area and the City. That’s one
point of view.
The empty graving dock, dating from the
1870s, all that remains of Austin’s shipyard. Waiting for a ship.
Sunderland, Fish Quay
Newcastle University Library / FARNE
Songs are like tattoos – you know
I’ve been to sea before …
Joni Mitchell
On the south bank of the Wear, the
Fish Quay and Noble’s Quay are still
used by fishing boats. Opposite, in the
background, the National Glass Centre,
the site of William Pile’s shipyard
where the City of Adelaide was built.
47
Sunderland Museum and Winter
Gardens
The permanent ‘Launched on Wearside’ exhibition is devoted to Wearside
shipbuilding, including ship models,
reconstructions, audio and video.
Sunderland, Trafalgar Square
Built 1840 as almshouses for retired
merchant seamen, that’s what they remain.
In the Sunderland museum – a model of
the barque Mowhan, built by William Pickersgill & Son in 1892, at 2,873 tons one of
the last of the big sailing barques.
Sunderland, Doxford Engine Works
The Friends of the Doxford Engines,
formed in 2001, mostly former Doxford workers, assist Tyne and wear
Museums with maintenance of the
Doxford engine housed at Beamish
Museum. Some of them have contributed to ‘Memory Net’ project.
I paused there one sunny morning to
pass the time of day with an old gentleman painting his patio furniture, and
within minutes I was hearing stories of
Cape Horn, and ships which were off
the port bow when the sun went down
but in the morning were gone …..
Seaham Harbour
NZ 432 495
If they haven’t already done so, one of
the oral history projects should get
down there quickly.
No natural harbour existed here until
the Marquis of Londonderry built this
harbour for export of coal. It was
started in 1828 and progressively
enlarged until 1905. The town of Seaham grew to service the harbour. Now
it can be seen as the only major
monument to the coal industry left in
County Durham, set in an area of
economic and social deprivation.
‘Maybe survivors would show
up somewhere eventually, more
dead than alive in their lifeboats,
and a cause could be ascribed.
Maybe the ship remained
‘missing’. It had disappeared
and taken the riddle of its end
with it forever. The dreadful
enigma is complete.’
]
Derek Lundy
48
Ambitious plans to redevelop the harbour as an economic asset and tourist
attraction are at the stage of a HLF
Project Planning Grant, supported by
an exemplary partnership of the dock
owners, the community and the local
authority. (See also the brief Case
Study in the third part of this survey).
Hartlepool, Heugh Battery
NZ 532 339
Easington, Beacon Hill
Access via the National Trust’s
Hawthorne Dene, the highest point on
the Durham coast, famed for spectacular views.
A Scheduled Monument, the gun battery dates from 1859 and was manned
during World War I and World War II.
A restoration project led by local enthusiasts has already created a site
open to the public with various artillery pieces displayed or re-instated.
The site will feature in the BBC ‘Restoration’ TV series in August 2006.
Horden Beach
Connecting the Trust’s Warren House
Gill and Foxholes Dene, this narrow
piece of coast was the 500th mile acquired through the Trust’s Neptune
Coastline Campaign. The Turning the
Tide project helped regenerate South
Durham’s notorious ‘black beaches’
after decades of degradation by colliery waste. The Durham Heritage
Coast partnership now works towards
community involvement in enhancing,
protecting and appreciating the coast.
Hartlepool Headland NZ 529 337
Crimdon Dene
NZ 490 367
The site of a major medieval port of
which there are some remains. Over £1
million in HLF grants has helped the
regeneration of the Headland area,
contributing in turn to the overall renaissance of a town once again conscious of its heritage and maritime
past.
World War II anti-tank cubes still litter
the beach and pillboxes are sliding
from the dunes. Tees Archaeology
have recently published excellent material on military defences on Teesside.
49
limestone, with an internal spiral
staircase, it looks like some ancient
Mediterranean pharos summoning the
quinquiremes* home to Ninevah.
Hartlepool, Victoria Harbour
Development NZ 515 346
This is a big site and a vast multimillion pound mixed use development
is proposed. It is hoped that the Victoria Harbour development will attract
cruise ships when completed, and
given the positive attitude and commitment of various projects in the area,
it probably will. Who would have believed, 15 years ago, that cruise liners
would put Hartlepool on their itinerary? The Victoria Harbour development will create an important link between the marina area and the Headland.
*Nautical archaeologists are sceptical
as to whether there ever was such a
vessel as a quinquireme.
Hartlepool, Jackson’s Quay and
Marina NZ 516 333
Around 40 tall ships visited Hartlepool
en route for the Tall Ships Race in
Newcastle in 2005. Building on the
success of that visit, the town has
succesfully bid to host the race in 2010
when the town will welcome up to 125
tall ships. The ships will be berthed in
Jackson Dock and Hartlepool Marina,
and there will be a host of special
events organised in celebration.
Hartlepool Marina,
Lifeboat Princess Royal
A recently completed 4 ½ year restoration to original sea-going condition by
a local group led by Brian Stringer.
Now berthed in the Marina, the Princess Royal did heroic service as the
Hartlepool Lifeboat from 1939 to
1968.
Hartlepool Historic Quay
NZ 514 332
Opened in 1994, a tourism-focussed
re-creation of a seaport of the Napoleonic era, one of the most significant
maritime heritage developments in the
region. Built on a brownfield dockside
site by the Teesside Development Corporation and working in partnership
with the Trincomalee and the Museum.
There are a number of privately owned
historic ships in and around the
Marina, including this former Filey
lifeboat. A retired Scottish trawler and
a former River Humber tug are tied up
beside the old Seaton High Light,
which was moved here during the
marina redevelopment. A slender
Tuscan
column
of
magnesian
50
These linked developments have had a
huge impact in transforming the perception of the town regionally and nationally and have provided an undoubted boost to economic development and the renaissance of the town.
Whether or not the slightly ‘theme
park’ style of the Historic Quay is to
your taste, there are major positive lessons for the whole region to be learned
from this project.
Hartlepool, Museum of Hartlepool
Opened in 1996, replacing a small
maritime museum on the Headland, the
Hartlepool Museum is second in the
region only to Discovery for its maritime collections. As from 2006, the
Museum, Trincomalee and the Historic
Quay are being marketed together as
the ‘Hartlepool Maritime Experience’
Hartlepool, PS Wingfield Castle
A paddle steamer built in Hartlepool
by William Gray in 1934, worked as
the Humber ferry until 1974. Returned
to Hartlepool 1986, restored as a historic vessel and berthed alongside the
Museum, together with three cobles.
The first stage of a new restoration was
completed, with support from HLF,
over the winter 2005/6, involvimg taking Trincomalee out of its dock and
replacing it with the Wingfield in order
to repair the hull. Both ships have now
returned to their usual berths. Wingfield is waiting on the results of another bid to HLF to improve access,
add lifts and an education suite and
replank the upper deck.
Hartlepool Historic Quay,
HMS Trincomalee
Hartlepool, Sir William Gray House
Borough Council offices, the headquarters of Tees Archaeology who are
active in nautical archaeology and hoping for English Heritage funding to set
up a North East Maritime Archaeology
Research Archive. In the grounds the
remains of a wooden ship, believed to
be the Rising Sun wrecked in 1861,
recovered by Nautical Archaeology
Society divers 1994-95, currently used
for training nautical archaeologists in
recording skills.
The flagship of Hartlepool’s regeneration. Built in 1817, the oldest warship
afloat in the UK and the last commissioned frigate of the Nelson era.
Owned and managed by a small charitable trust who have restored the vessel
over 16 years, with funding first from
the Hartlepool Development Corporation and subsequently over £5 million
from HLF. Received 56,000 paying
visitors in 2005. Also available for
weddings and parties.
(See also the Case Study on Trincomalee and Hartlepool in the third part
of this survey).
Seaton Carew
51
NZ 525 300
A traditional British seaside town, with
a promenade well supplied with fish
and chip shops, ice cream parlours and
amusement arcades. And a nuclear
power station just two miles down the
beach.
Right next to the nuclear power station
at Able UK’s yard, the so-called US
Navy “Ghost Ships”, (USS Caloosahatchee, Canisteo, Canopus and Compass Island), still await their fate as the
company and environmentalist wrangle
over pollution issues. Next to the US
ships lies what looks like the old Tuxedo Royale, former British Rail ferry
and latterly disco ship at Newcastle
and most recently at Middlesbrough.
Seaton Carew, Seaton Shipwreck
NZ 530 296
On the beach, between high and low
water, right in front of Seaton promenade. The only Designated Historic
Wreck site in the region, one of the
most intact wooden shipwrecks discovered on the North East coast, although, as the sands shift with storm
and tide, sometimes very little is exposed. Believed to be an eighteenth or
nineteenth century collier brig.
River Tees, North Breakwater
NZ 544 285
The North Gare built 1882-1892.
Fronted by a parade of World War II
anti-tank blocks.
Stockton on Tees, Quays
NZ 448 186 and 450 192
Old quays on both sides of the river
Tees in the town centre, improved as
part of the £200 million ‘Stockton City
Challenge’ regeneration programme in
the 1980s and 1990s.
Photo: Tees Archaeology
Seaton Carew,
Graythorp Dock
NZ 522 268
52
of the area to be redeveloped but
whilst there are numerous interesting
old buildings connected with the docks
and shipyards, sail lofts for example,
one of which is probably the oldest
building in the area, there is nothing
original enough, complete enough or
good enough to warrant statutory protection. The developers intend to “retain and redevelop historic features
such as the dock clock tower”. Another
aspect of heritage is the contamination
on the site, a major local issue.
Stockton on Tees, Castlegate Quay,
replica HM Bark Endeavour
A rather unlovely full size replica in
steel of Captain Cook’s ship, built as
one of the projects in the ‘Stockton
City Challenge’ scheme. Not always
open to visitors but contains a small
local history and children’s area.
Available for parties, school visits and
weddings.
Middlesbrough, Transporter Bridge
NZ 500 213
Built 1911 by the Cleveland Bridge Co
to link Middlesbrough to Port Clarence
without impeding shipping up the
Tees. It has recently become a tourist
attraction with a Visitor Centre.
Stockton on Tees, T.S. Kellington
Moored as a stationary Sea Cadets
training ship at the quayside, the Ton
Class Coastal Minesweeper M 1154
HMS Kellington, built 1952-55 by
Wm. Pickersgill and Sons, Sunderland,
just before Pickersgill amalgamated
with A P Austin to form Austin Pickersgill. More could be made of this
Sunderland-built warship as a piece of
regional maritime heritage.
Middlesbrough, Dorman Museum
Linthorpe Road
Has an excellent exhibition on ships
and shipbuilding.
Middlesbrough, Marton,
Capt. Cook Birthplace Museum
One of Middlesbrough Borough Council’s museums, this museum is almost
unique in the region because it reminds
us graphically that the maritime heritage of the North East is not just about
the North East - it is about the oceans
that the ships and seamen sailed, the
lands they travelled to and the people
they found there. Heavily focussed on
the educational school visits market,
but an education for people of all ages
in the way it succeeds in conveying the
wonder of discovery of undreamed of
lands long before mass media brought
everything in the world to us on
screens in our homes. The redevelopment of the museum was completed
with HLF funding of £818,000 in
1999.
Kirkleatham Museum
Middlesbrough Dock NZ 505 207
The docks were built in 1842. Currently the Middlehaven project is a
huge redevelopment project on the site
of Middlesbrough Docks to replace the
former dock site with a major housing
and mixed use development. Tees Archaeology have done a detailed study
53
NZ 592 217
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. Collections include the lifeboat Sir
James Knott, stationed at Redcar from
1972 to 1986. They also have a Yorkshire sailing coble, and other maritime
relics and models. The major exhibition for 2006 is to be “Titanic: Honour
and Glory”, running from July to
October.
The museum houses the world’s oldest
surviving lifeboat, built 1802, and the
only surviving boat built by Henry
Greathead.
The Zetland lifeboat served until 1880,
saving some 500 lives.
The charming small museum, housed
in the lifeboat house built in 1877, also
houses an evocative collection of
original photographs and artefacts relating to shipwrecks and sea rescue.
Redcar Breakwater
NZ 557 280
South Gare Breakwater, 2.5 miles
long, built 1861-1885 by the Tees
Conservancy Commission to facilitate
navigation over the bar at low tide. The
South Gare incorporates substantial
World War II gun emplacements. On
the beach in front of the Gare, is a
World War II pillbox, askew and
washed by the tide. At Bran Sands to
the south of the Gare there is another
pillbox in the dunes, and some more to
the immediate south west, defending
Redcar.
Redcar, RNLI Zetland Lifeboat
Museum King Street
From the old lifeboat station traces of
four wrecks can be see at low tide, including the Greek cargo vessel
Dimitris, which sank in 1953 and
which is the subject of a LHI-funded
research project by Cleveland Divers.
Also visible is the boiler of the French
steam collier ‘Montauban’ and the remains of the Admiralty tug ‘Fairplay’
which both ran onto the rocks in 1940,
and the ribs of the sailing ship ‘Rose of
England’ wrecked in 1892.
54
Saltburn Cliff Lift and Pier
NZ 666 218
Saltburn is one of the seaside resorts
virtually created by the railways in late
Victorian times. Opened in 1884, the
oldest waterbalanced cliff lift in Britain links Saltburn Pier with the town
and railway station. The Pier, a Grade
II listed building, is the only surviving
pier in the North East and was restored
in the year 2000 at a cost of £1.5 million, most of that from the HLF.
Skinningrove NZ 713 202
An iron mining village and harbour,
still supporting six or eight fishing
cobles. This part of the coast, between
Redcar and Staithes has a different
character again to the coasts of South
Durham and Northumberland. As part
of Redcar and Cleveland, it may technically be within the government
North East area, but historically, culturally and topographically it is part of
Yorkshire, and partnerships with the
North Yorkshire Heritage Coast and
other Yorkshire-based tourist and heritage bodies reflect this.
Saltburn by the Sea, Smugglers
Heritage Centre NZ 661 216
An effective and well-researched little
venue. The visitor passes through three
darkened cottage rooms with a guide,
by torchlight, as shadowy historical
figures recount the true stories of ruthless local smugglers and corrupt gentry. The Brownies who were visiting
on the afternoon we were there found it
enjoyably scary. Highly recommended
for all the family. Smuggling was big
business and a feature of coastal communities all up the coast in the 18th
century and it is surprising more is not
made of it by other heritage sites.
55
INLAND SITES AND VENUES
The Association was formed in 1993
by retired RFA Captain Rex Cooper, as
a charity for the welfare of present and
past RFA personnel and their families.
Generations of Tyne seamen served
with the RFA, and still do. “It is very
much a home industry”, says Rex.
Not all maritime heritage is on the
coast.
Beamish, The North of England
Open Air Museum holds important
objects in the Regional Museums Store
and the Bowes Museum, Barnard
Castle has some maritime items and
also staged exhibitions for the SeaBritain programme in 2005.
Since 1993 the Association has been
gifted thousands of photographs of
RFA vessels, many of them built on
the Tyne, together with models, memorabilia and an important collection of
ships’ badges and battle honours from
decommissioned RFA vessels. These
include RFA ships which took part in
the Falklands conflict, the 25th anniversary
of
which
will
be
commemorated in 2007. RFA ships
bore the brunt of action in the Falklands, for example RFA Sir Galahad
lies on the seabed at 052.12.39S
056.12.21W as a War Grave.
Cragside near Rothbury, the first Lord
Armstrong’s country house and now a
National Trust property, houses some
builders’ models of ships built by
Armstrong.
There are monuments with maritime
connections such as the Davison
Vault, in Kirknewton Churchyard,
holding the remains of Alexander
Davison 1750-1830, close friend of
Lord Nelson, who spent £2,000 on
medals for every man who fought at
the Battle of the Nile in 1798. The
vault was restored by Kirknewton Parish Council and Northumberland National Park Authority in 1996-97.
Alexander Davison bought Swarland
Hall in 1795 and researchers have recently confirmed a local tradition that
the park and gardens were laid out by
Davison to represent the battle plan of
the Battle of the Nile. Nearby an obelisk commemorates Nelson.
The Association is currently embarking on a programme of cataloguing and
digitising this historic material, and
looking towards future links with the
museum community.
At Bellingham, Northumberland,
which is about as far from the sea as
you can get in this region, is the headquarters of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Association. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is, as its name suggests, the
service that provides auxiliary logistic
support to the Royal Navy with a fleet
of tankers and supply vessels.
Capt. Rex Cooper OBE at the HQ in Bellingham with the Falklands battle honours
from RFA Tidepool. “We have a duty to
preserve the history and achievements of
the service.” Tidepool was a fleet tanker
built at Hawthorn Leslie, Hebburn in 1962,
sold to the Chilean Navy in 1982.
56
The Region’s Museums and their Maritime Collections
Across the region there are a number of museums with significant maritime
collections. There are large and important maritime galleries or exhibitions in
Newcastle’s Discovery Museum, in the Sunderland and South Shields Museums and
in the Dorman Museum at Middlesbrough. The Hartlepool Museum adjoining the
Historic Quay and the HMS Trincomalee is largely a maritime collection, probably
second to Discovery in importance in the region, and the impressive Captain Cook
Birthplace Museum at Marton, Middlesbrough, obviously follows a maritime theme.
There are a number of excellent smaller specialist museums such as the Zetland
Lifeboat Museum at Redcar, the Grace Darling Museum at Bamburgh and the
Seahouses Marine Life and Fishing Heritage Centre. There are also maritime
collections at other venues including Souter and St. Mary’s Lighthouses, the
Volunteer Life Brigade Watch Houses, and other museums and galleries. These are
all mentioned in our ‘Journey Down the Coast’.
In 1992 the North of England Museums Service (NEMS) published a report by Alison
Gale entitled ‘Catching the Tide: The Status and Future of Maritime Collections in
North East Museums’. This was a comprehensive, well-resourced and detailed
inventory and study of the region’s collections, putting them in their historical context
and making a very large number of recommendations for future action.
Copies of ‘Catching the Tide’ are available for reference and this remains the best
inventory and evaluation of the region’s maritime museum collections. In the 15 years
since that research was done there have been some changes but overall the
collections remain broadly as that survey found them; there has not been the
targeted and systematic development of collections that the report recommended.
We will not attempt, with the time and resources available for this study, to update
the ‘Catching the Tide’ inventory in detail, but a few changes are worth mentioning.
The setting up of the Regional Museums Store at Beamish was a joint initiative by
Beamish and Tyne and Wear Museums (TWM) and this large building now houses a
number of TWM’s large maritime objects including the fishing ‘mule’ Blossom, the
Tyne Wherry boat Elswick and the massive 1977 Doxford marine engine. Whilst
these objects now enjoy vastly better and more secure storage conditions, and there
is some public access via a viewing gallery and occasional guided tours, issues of
access and interpretation remain to be addressed.
The coming of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has had a tremendous impact on
museums since 1994. The very large two-phase redevelopment of the Discovery
Museum from 1999 to 2005, aided by over £8 million from HLF, has allowed proper
display of the historically important pioneering steam-turbine vessel Turbinia. A new
‘Story of the Tyne’ gallery includes a large 1929 model of the River Tyne which had
been in store for many years, and many of the Museum’s world class collection of
ship models and other artefacts. The new gallery was a very significant investment
for TWM.
Other TWM museums which have significantly updated and redisplayed existing
maritime collections include Sunderland and South Shields, and there is a now an
Industry Gallery featuring shipbuilding at Segedunum. Outside the TWM area, the
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, and the Grace Darling Museum (which is currently
undergoing a major redevelopment), have received significant funding from HLF.
Details of maritime heritage related grants made by HLF from 1994 to date are given
later in this survey.
57
The new ‘Story of the Tyne’ gallery at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum
The new Museum of Hartlepool, which replaced a small maritime museum on the
Headland, opened in 1996. It had considerable initial funding from the Teesside
Development Corporation but was too early to benefit from substantial Lottery
funding. The restoration of HMS Trincomalee, situated in the Historic Quay attraction
adjoining the Museum, was initially largely-funded by the Development Corporation,
and has subsequently benefited from over £5 million of HLF grants.
Over the period since the 1992 report we have lost a number of museums which
were listed then as housing maritime collections. Most notable amongst these is the
Trinity Maritime Centre, which formerly adjoined the Trinity House premises off
Newcastle’s Quayside, and closed in 2004. Several smaller museums that held
maritime exhibits, such as Stockton’s Green Dragon Museum and the Darlington
town museum, have also failed to survive.
Of the historic ships and boats which the report regarded as being part of the region’s
museum collection in 1992, most of the full sized vessels remain roughly where they
were. Some of the small vessels belonging to Tyne and Wear museums have gone
to the new Regional Museums Store at Beamish. The fishing boat Willdora, veteran
of Dunkirk, which was owned by the Willdora Trust and berthed at St Peter’s Basin in
1992 is now in private ownership in Sunderland’s South Dock. The World War II
destroyer HMS Cavalier, which was still at South Tyneside in 1992 awaiting
proposed maritime museum developments which never materialised, has now left the
region and found a berth at Chatham Historic Dockyard.
In 1992, ‘Catching the Tide’ noted that there was a shortage of museum curators with
specialist maritime knowledge and that there was only one full-time Keeper of
Maritime History in the region, at Tyne and Wear Museums. That is still the case
today. TWM’s Keeper of Maritime History, Ian Whitehead, is the only museum
curator in the region whose work is completely centred on Maritime Heritage. In all
the other museums which have maritime collections, responsibility for these is only
one part of curators’ duties, they are also responsible for diverse other collection
areas.
The 1992 report recommended that mechanisms should be developed whereby the
TWM Keeper’s specialist knowledge and skills might be shared with other museums,
and recently there has been some progress towards this aim.
An important development since 1992 has been the ‘Renaissance in the Regions’
programme and the establishment of the North East Regional Museums Hub
(NERMH). ‘Renaissance in the Regions’ is a government programme for regional
museums’ development and the North East Regional Museums Hub is a mechanism
58
for delivering the funding for that programme, funding which comes via the Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and ultimately from the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport (DCMS).
The North East Regional Museums Hub is not a body or organisation as such, but a
working partnership of major regional museums with a manager based at TWM. Set
up in 2003, the Hub agreed to focus on the ‘SeaBritain 2005’ programme, with the
aim of demonstrating, through this showcase, how the museums community in the
North East could co-operate and co-ordinate for the benefit of the region.
Through this some of the region’s museums became involved in a successful
programme of SeaBritain events and a group of curators brought together for this
purpose has stayed together to form a regional Maritime Curators Group, an
embryonic maritime heritage network for the region.
Simultaneously, a Hub ‘Curatorial Needs Project’ has looked at various subject areas
and at what work was needed to make them more accessible, better interpreted and
better documented. One subject area highlighted by this exercise was maritime
heritage, and the regional Maritime Curators Group is now looking at this.
Hub funding has so far helped this process by, for example, paying for backfilling the
Keeper of Maritime History’s work at TWM with an assistant, so that the Keeper can
function regionally part of the time. The Keeper is also in touch with, and attends
meetings of, national groups such as the Maritime Curators Group, and is able to
feed back to the regional members what is happening at the national level, for
example progress on the listing of small historic boats and news on the National
Conference of Maritime Curators which is scheduled for November 2006.
Tyne and Wear Museums’ main current maritime project is Memory Net (see our
section on Internet Resources). This web-based SeaBritain project is devoted to
collecting and preserving video and oral history recordings showing how the sea and
seafaring have shaped memories and experiences of individuals and groups across
the region. This project emphasises that maritime heritage is not just about objects,
ships, models, machines and artefacts, but about cultural heritage and life
experiences, and that our museums and heritage organisations need to focus on this
as well as on the material heritage.
Other forthcoming museums projects include TWM, in association with Tyne and
Wear Archives, putting on an exhibition ‘Mauretania, Pride of the Tyne’, scheduled to
run at Discovery from September to November 2006 and which will also create a
“lantern slide show” touring and outreach exhibition with educational events at
schools etc. TWM has just purchased by auction at Sotheby’s in London a rosebowl
that was from the Mauretania which will form part of this. This project is funded under
the HLF “Your Heritage” programme.
[]
What are the current issues and priorities for Maritime Curators?
At the national level, there is debate amongst maritime curators as to whether they
should be looking outwards into the community and making links with various
organisations and initiatives with a social agenda, or whether their role should be to
concentrate on what they do best, which is the care and interpretation of their own
collections.
59
The Keeper of Maritime History at TWM, takes the view that museums should be
addressing the wider agenda of community and social involvement, and that that
should be the priority for action from museums’ point of view. As an example he
gives the forthcoming anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery, which is to be explored
and commemorated in various ways in 2007. There would appear to be a fairly
comfortable assumption that (for mainly geographical rather than moral reasons)
ships and shipowners from the North East of England were not much involved in the
slave trade. There is a case to be made that here is an area that could be explored,
assumptions tested, and museum and archive collections interpreted and made
accessible as part of a wider social and educational agenda.
Not guilty? Were North East ships and shipowners involved in the slave trade?
Looking at regional priorities, the TWM Keeper also believes that the skills of
traditional wooden boat building are a part of our maritime heritage that needs to be
preserved and maintained, and that museums should support the establishment of
some kind of school or workshops to build and repair small craft. [see Tall Ships &
Small Ships].
On a strategic level, Alec Coles, Director of Tyne and Wear Museums, acknowledges
that maritime heritage in the region is potentially a major heritage theme. He says
that, “Many people would say that the greatest asset of the North East is the coast”
and believes it could be given more coherence - but that it is not clear how best to do
this. There are disparate groups passionately interested in their own particular areas,
but the challenge is to bring them together and at the same time make the subject
accessible to a wider audience.
Sunderland City Council have commissioned a major review and feasibility study by
consultants Lord Planning and Management, looking at the desirability and feasibility
of some kind of new maritime heritage development in Sunderland. TWM have been
involved on the Steering Group for this study. The results of this consultancy, which
are expected in Summer 2006, are likely to point the way for future developments.
60
SeaBritain North East 2005
SeaBritain North East 2005 was a partnership project of the North East Regional
Museums Hub. The following information is taken from the Hub evaluation report on
SeaBritain.
The Hub delivered SeaBritain in co-operation with the Tyne and Wear Museums, the
National Trust at Souter Lighthouse and the Leas, Berwick Borough Museums, and
the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum. The project was part of a national initiative to
celebrate British maritime heritage and the 200th anniversary of the Battle of
Trafalgar. It was also part of the Festival of the River and the Sea organised by
Newcastle Gateshead Initiative and supported by Culture10. The overall project
budget amounted to £319,500.
During 2005, the partners organised 30 temporary exhibitions, festivals and projects
which were visited by over half a million visitors, and one web-based project, Memory
Net, which went online in 2006. The programme of exhibitions and projects was
probably one of the most ambitious and sustained programmes of themed events
ever carried out by a regional museums partnership. The programme comprised
(with visitor numbers given in brackets where available):
Hartlepool Museum and Art Gallery
'Shipshape' the work of marine artist James Dodds
'Ship Town’ paintings, prints and ephemera from the Hartlepool collections
Museum of Hartlepool
'Monsters of the Deep' touring exhibition
Maritime themed street theatre coinciding with Tall Ships visit
The Bowes Museum
'Images of the Sea' touring exhibition loaned to 4 other venues
Artisancam North schools project on sea-inspired art
'Whater Palaver' , a ‘water trail’ through the collections
'Boats with Legs', a re-enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar targeted at schools
Discovery Museum, Newcastle
‘'The Cruel Sea' touring exhibition on the Arctic convoys of World War II.
(85,414)
‘Collingwood and Trafalgar' exhibition (48,372)
Hancock Museum, Newcastle
'Treasures of the Sea' natural history exhibition (16,151)
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
'Where the Tall Ships Are’ historical views of Gateshead and Newcastle
quaysides
South Shields Museum and Art Gallery
'Heroes of Trafalgar: Collingwood and Nelson' exhibition in collaboration with
the National Portrait Gallery and National Maritime Museum (29,051)
'Shipwreck!’ exhibition on ships wrecked at the mouth of the Tyne (70,188)
Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Sunderland
'Working the Waves' exhibition on the fishing industry (88,346)
'Jack Crawford, the Hero of Camperdown' exhibition
Segedunum, Wallsend
'Over Ocean - Ships at the Roman Frontier' exhibition including artefacts from
museums around the country (19,681)
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
'Living River' paintings of the River Tyne (65,230)
61
Souter Lighthouse and the Leas
‘Festival of the Sea’ one day event including music, performances and crafts
activities. (c.7,000)
‘Wreck and Rescue Day’ music, performances and activities (750 -1,000)
'Trafalgar ... Before your Very Eyes'’, theatre event (250)
(In total, lectures included, Souter had 68 events during 2005 which focused on
SeaBritain)
Berwick Borough Museum and Art Gallery
'The Wonderful Undersea World of Dr Johnson' natural history exhibition (10,000)
'Maritime Berwick' exhibition (at the Main Guard) (6,978)
'Eve of Trafalgar', a series of displays and activities
Out of SeaBritain came a film project with school children ‘Fight for Fish’
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum
'Oh! How Strange!: Omai's Excursion 1775', exhibition about the first Pacific
islander to visit Britain (9,054)
‘At Home with Mrs Cook: Navy Wives and Women in the 18th Century’ (11,947)
'Sea-Houses' exhibition on Pacific native buildings (17,740)
'The Royal Navy Then & Now: 1775-2005' (16,326)
'A History of Surfing' /'Saltburn Surf' until June 2006 (1,790)
Like Hartlepool, Middlesbrough welcomed a number of Tall Ships as they travelled
up the coast. During the event, Middlesbrough established a mobile museum at
Middlehaven, which was visited by approximately 12,000 people.
SeaBritain North East 2005 was seen to have numerous positive impacts on
participating museums, particularly in terms of developing partnership working, and
was judged to have fully achieved its aims. One important outcome has been the
continuation of the SeaBritain Curators’ Steering Group as a specialist network for
maritime curators in the North East. The curatorial members of the Steering Group
representing venues with strong maritime collections agreed to continue as a working
group of maritime curators which will meet twice a year to exchange ideas and
explore opportunities for future partnerships. The evaluation of SeaBritain also
strongly recommended that regional thematic co-operation should be continued.
One problem with temporary thematic museum and art gallery exhibitions,
particularly if they are successful, is that for some time afterwards non-specialist
venues take the view that “we’ve done that”, and the theme is ignored in favour of
other subjects, perhaps for years. Where a theme is promoted across the region,
there could be the danger that this effect is regional. Hopefully the existence of the
Maritime Curators’ Group as a result of SeaBritain, and the awareness and new
resources that were created as a result of the programme, will mean that for maritime
heritage this will not happen.
62
Maritime Heritage in Archives and Local Studies Libraries
There are four local authority archive services in the region, and ten library services
with local studies collections. All of these hold some primary source material for
maritime heritage, ranging from small collections of local photographs to enormous
archives of shipyard records covering many hundreds of metres of shelves.
Tyne and Wear Archives
By far the most important maritime archives are those held by Tyne and Wear
Archives Service (TWAS) at Blandford Square, Newcastle. The main classes of
maritime material held at TWAS cover shipbuilding and maritime trade.
The shipbuilding collections comprise company and shipyard records, mostly from
the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The records of most of the shipyards on
the Tyne and the Wear that survived into the 1960s and 1970s were deposited at
TWAS when the yards closed. They include business records and technical data,
particularly plans and photographs, which are the most popular parts of the
collection. A lot of requests for copies of ships plans are received.
The maritime trade archives include the records of shipping companies and the port
authorities. The records of the Port of Tyne Authority (originally the Tyne
Improvement Commissioners), River Wear Commissioners and the Port of
Sunderland Authority cover river works, piers, lighthouses, river management and
shipping movements.
The TWAS website at www.tyneandweararchives.org.uk contains details of the
collections, and printed user guides are available.
The importance of the shipbuilding records at TWAS cannot be overstated. In the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries North East England led the world in
shipbuilding; in the years 1899 to 1908, for example, the shipyards of the North East
built a greater tonnage of ships than the whole of the rest of the world put together.
The TWAS archives are the third most important collection not just in the UK but also
in the world (the only more significant collections are at Glasgow University and the
National Maritime Museum). The problem is that due to the extent of the TWAS
holdings (they number hundreds of thousands of items and cover some six hundred
metres of shelving in the stores) they are largely uncatalogued. Uncatalogued
archives are inaccessible and to some extent useless archives, because items from
them cannot be identified and produced for users.
MLA North East, the umbrella group for libraries, museums and archives in the
region, has identified this cataloguing challenge as the single most important priority
for maritime heritage regionally.
In order to address this problem TWAS commissioned, with funding from HLF, a
study by the Archive Skills Consultancy which produced the ‘ARK’ report in October
2005. This important report produced a useful preliminary audit of the collections,
and made some 60 recommendations as to how their management and access
should be addressed.
The ARK report’s recommendation of a major five to ten-year cataloguing project has
yet to be initiated. The funding requirements are considerable, the local authorities
which maintain TWAS cannot fund it, and the HLF, a prospective funder, does not
fund cataloguing projects per se. For HLF to support the cataloguing of this material,
63
the project would need to involve community engagement and access. This is not
always easy to reconcile with the challenges of large scale cataloguing to a
professional standard. The fact that until the material is catalogued it is not
accessible by the community or anybody else does not in itself satisfy HLF criteria.
However, the recommendations of the ‘ARK’ report have prompted a number of
developments, for example in establishing procedures to prioritise cataloguing of the
more popular parts of the collections such as ships’ plans and photographs.
Colin Boyd, Archive Assistant at Tyne and Wear Archives, with a plan of the SS Sagami Maru
of c.1890, one of about 600 coloured plans from Mitchell’s shipyard. Altogether there are over
12,000 ship plans in the collections, and about 70-80,000 photographs and negatives. Colin,
a former shipyard worker who “worked in about every yard on the river at one stage or
another” has most recently been working on the mammoth task of organising and listing the
shipbuilding companies’ archives for the ‘ARK’ report.
The TWAS maritime archives are used by a regular group of shipping experts and
enthusiasts. These include Dr Ian Buxton, Visiting Professor, School of Marine
Science & Technology, University of Newcastle, who is working on a major resource,
the British Shipbuilding Database; a database of all British built ships and engines
from the mid 19th century. Over 75,000 vessels (125,000 records) are so far on the
database. Another regular at the archives is the maritime historian and writer Dick
Keys, whose Directory of Tyne Sailing Ships, published in 1988 is another major
resource for researchers and is used to answer enquiries from all over the world.
Currently, much important and tremendously labour-intensive research of this kind is
only done by dedicated enthusiasts at their own expense without any kind of
recompense. Unless they form organised groups and trusts, they are ineligible for
consideration by most funding agencies, and are often unable to properly publish
their research, yet their work is of unquestioned importance to the region’s heritage
and forms a rich community resource. Funding agencies such as the HLF could do
well to consider extending their terms of reference to provide bursaries to individuals
whose work is of real value to our heritage. Perhaps this could be done by funding
some intermediate group or project to administer small grants.
The regional Tomorrow’s History website (www.tomorrows-history.com) includes
digitised copies of some maritime material from TWAS, including over six hundred
64
ship photographs taken for shipbuilders and owners by Turner Visuals between
1947-1997, and a short film ‘A Ship is Born’ made in Sunderland in 1951 and held by
the Northern Region Film and TV Archive.
Northumberland Record Office
The Northumberland Record Office (NRO) is in the process of moving from Gosforth
to the new purpose-built record office at Woodhorn. Though the maritime collections
are not on the scale of the major TWAS shipbuilding archives, NRO does hold
important maritime sources, including the records of the Blyth and Tyne Shipping
Company and the Port of Blyth records. The Record Office at Berwick upon Tweed
holds records relating to the Port of Berwick which extends from St. Abbs to
Alnmouth. They include Shipping Registers and Registers of Fishing Boats from the
1820s Crew Lists, Harbour Commissioners’ Records and records of the Berwick
Salmon Fisheries.
The Tomorrow’s History website contains an impressive selection of sample
documents from various collections at the Northumberland and Berwick Record
Offices. These 328 digitised documents comprise records of many different formats.
They include ships’ registers and crew lists, account books, contracts, log books and
reports, letters and diaries, marine charts, maps, plans of ships, harbours and
lighthouses, directories and almanacs, handbills, petitions, photographs and
paintings. The Tomorrow’s History selection gives a real insight into the riches of
maritime sources in our archives.
Durham Record Office and Teesside Archives
The Durham Record Office at County Hall, Durham, has some shipbuilding records,
including some Austin & Pickersgill records. Teesside Archives in Middlesbrough
hold records of Swan Hunter’s Haverton Hill shipyard, and some Tees Port Records.
Other institutions holding maritime archives
Several Museums in the region have maritime archives in addition to their collections
of artefacts. Hartlepool Museums Service has a number of collections, notably the
business archives of William Gray & Co.
Stockton Museums Service has some collections relating to ships and shipbuilding.
Kirkleatham Museum has glass slides and ephemera from Smiths Dock.
The Dorman Museum, at Middlesbrough has a photographic collection including
shipping.
Sunderland Museum’s maritime collection includes archive material such as mariner
certificates, indentures etc.
The Discovery Museum holds the Armstrong photographic archive amongst many
other maritime history items and documents.
Whilst it is not an archive as such, we should also mention here the photograph
collection at Beamish, which includes material relating to the North East coast and
shipping. A small selection of these photographs is displayed on the Tomorrow’s
History website.
65
Newcastle University Library
The Special Collections and Archives department of Newcastle University Library
holds manuscripts, letters, personal papers, antiquarian maps, a large collection of
local prints and illustrations and other primary source materials. During the summer
of 2006 they are mounting an exhibition of items from these collections relating to
Maritime Heritage in the North East, and have published a small booklet
complementing this exhibition.
The Local Studies Libraries
All the region’s local studies libraries have local photograph collections, and some of
these include significant maritime collections. They also hold some other relevant
material such as periodicals and ephemera. During the Tomorrow’s History project
from 2000-2002, all the region’s library services co-operated in digitising very large
numbers of items from their collections for the website. The following examples,
which can all be viewed at www.tommorrows-history.com, indicate the range and
depth of maritime material available at the libraries.
Newcastle City Libraries
Armstrong Mitchell / Whitworth photographs, 78 photographs of ships built at the Low
Walker and Elswick yards between 1885 and 1931
North Tyneside Local Studies Library
Extracts from Smiths Dock Monthly and Smiths Dock Journal, 1919-1933
(267 pages)
‘North Shields Fish Quay photographs’, 1858-1930 (105 photos)
‘North Shields Life and Work’, 1890-1930 (220 photos)
‘Sand & Sea, Whitley Bay, Cullercoats and Tynemouth’, 1890-1950 (181 photos)
‘Wallsend, life and work’ 1900-1930 (95 photos)
South Tyneside Local Studies
Local photographs including shipyard photographs from Palmer’s, Redhead’s,
Eltringham’s and Hawthorne Leslie and 30 examples from the ‘Tyne Ships’ collection
Sunderland
Bartram’s Yard, 100 years of shipbuilding. 178 photographs from the collection
Archives, Libraries and Community Groups
The region’s archives and libraries work in a natural partnership with numerous local
societies and community groups working on maritime heritage themes and projects.
A good example is the Friends of Berwick and District Museum and Archives, who
produced a very high quality, and now hard to obtain, leaflet on the history of the
ports of Berwick. This was done with Tomorrow’s History funding and could do with
some further funding to update and reprint. Another example is North Shields Library
Club for the over 50s who are working on an oral history project ‘Remembering the
Past, Resourcing the Future’ which includes reminiscences from the communities
involved in the shipbuilding and fishing industries.
66
Heritage Lottery Fund support for Maritime Heritage
The establishment of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in 1994 marked the beginning
of a new era in heritage funding in the UK. Without a doubt HLF funding has been the
most significant development in heritage conservation and promotion for a
generation. Without it, only a fraction of the heritage projects that have taken place
over the past twelve years would have existed.
This is true for heritage generally throughout the UK, and also applies to maritime
heritage in the North East. The table below, based on data supplied by HLF’s
Regional Office, shows details of 60 applications in the region that have been offered
HLF grants for projects that relate wholly or partly to maritime heritage, between
1994 and 2006.
These grants total £25 million.
However, this total includes a number of very large area regeneration projects and
projects, such as the Discovery Museum redevelopment, that are only partly
maritime. The English Heritage ‘Heritage Counts’ report in 2005 calculated that about
£12 million in HLF grants had gone to maritime projects between 1994-2005. Large
though this sum might still seem, it is only about 8% of the HLF grants made in the
region during that period.
Between 1994 and 2002 the HLF was run centrally from London. In 2002, operations
were regionalised, and a North East Regional Office established in Newcastle. The
Regional Committee that was then set up raised Maritime Heritage as an issue. They
recognised that at that time there was a dearth of maritime projects in the HLF
portfolio compared with other heritage areas across the region, for example railway
heritage. To some extent this is still the case.
Keith Bartlett, Regional Director of the HLF, has said, “I am shocked that
shipbuilding, ships and the sea don’t matter as much to people as I expected them
to.”
HLF sees the problem partly in terms of local authorities having failed to recognise
the significance and potential of maritime assets that were disappearing. That may
be partly true, but over the past two decades there have been various plans to
establish a maritime museum regionally or on Tyneside. These have not progressed
for a number of reasons including, according to a source within Tyne and Wear
Museums, “inter-council rivalry”. The fact that potential coastal or riverside sites have
now become highly sought after for housing and mixed use development may now
also have become a factor.
The HLF view is that in some cases community and amenity groups interested in the
subject have not been sufficiently developed to take on and manage projects. There
are small groups with visionary projects that are beyond their capabilities to deliver.
Even some of the smaller local authorities are thought to lack the capacity and
management infrastructure to handle major projects.
According to HLF, what is singularly lacking in the maritime field is the kind of
restoration and preservation project that is found, for example, in the railway field. It
is true that among boat enthusiasts there is not the tradition of preservation societies
and trusts, run as businesses with management committees and financial structures,
that exists in the railway preservation movement.
67
Financial planning and management of maritime restoration projects is crucial.
Acquisition and restoration of historic vessels is only the beginning of the story. Ships
and boats, afloat or in dry dock, are expensive to maintain. HLF funding will not
extend to ongoing support and maintenance, and it is difficult to find ways of making
a historic ship pay its way. Even the highly successful HMS Trincomalee at
Hartlepool does not pay her way as a visitor attraction. She needs to retain a charity
fundraiser and dynamic business and marketing support to pay her expenses and is
successful because she is a component part in larger partnerships to regenerate the
town.
The Regional Office of HLF does receive numerous pre-application enquiries from,
for example, people wishing to preserve and restore small boats. However few of
these have satisfied the necessary conditions for HLF support. The first hurdle to
overcome is that the applicant has to be a not for profit organisation, constituted with
a bank account. If the applicant or group is not a trust and does not wish to become
one, there is no point applying.
Then, from the point of view of the HLF, for projects large and small, groups must
show the ability to manage, deliver and sustain a project. For larger projects this
involves having significant management skills and the ability to successfully create
and exploit the necessary partnerships and networks. Individuals having the
enthusiasm and the practical skills is not, in itself, enough.
Since HLF does not always fund projects 100% there is frequently the problem of
raising matched funding. Compared with other English regions there is a shortage in
the North East of trusts and foundations willing to match-fund heritage projects.
On a more positive note, HLF say that they want to see more maritime groups with
viable, achievable and sustainable projects. Since 2002 the Regional Office of HLF
has tried to encourage and nurture maritime heritage projects, and the table below
shows how these are now coming through in greater numbers. But there is still
unrealised potential.
They are currently supporting a number of maritime projects that they see as
exemplary.
The Tyne and Wear Museums ‘Memory Net’ project, to record the memories and
perceptions of people whose lives have involved diverse experiences of the sea, and
to make this accessible by exhibitions and Internet, ticks all the boxes. It emphasises
that maritime heritage is not just about boats and buildings but also, crucially, about
cultural heritage and community. The project involves outreach, community
engagement and education, and it has the management and network support of
established organisations.
The development of the Grace Darling Museum at Bamburgh again has the support
of an organisation (the Royal National Lifeboat Institute) that can be relied on to
deliver the project and sustain it for many years in the future. It is a significant project
both in the tourism strategy and the cultural iconography of the north Northumberland
coast.
The Seaham Harbour North Dock project is currently at the stage of a Project
Planning Grant for an access and conservation study and an audience development
plan, but has potential for a major conservation and redevelopment project. The
Seaham project is a model of partnership working, with genuine commitment from
68
the Dock company, the local authority and a dynamic alliance of ten community and
special interest organisations. This project could be a living heritage showcase and
provide a major boost and new focus for a small town that has suffered badly from
the collapse of the mining industry.
Seaham North Dock: looking to the future and hoping to attract substantial HLF funding.
Another project which has both a solid organisational grounding and a visionary
purpose is the ‘Dig, Dive and Discover’ project, managed by Hartlepool Borough
Council. This is a unique initiative, involving training young people in local historical
research via the Museums and Library Services, and in Scuba diving and underwater
archaeology skills from local diving clubs and the Nautical Archaeology Society. This
will lead to a hands-on training excavation, recording and interpreting the remains of
a wreck on the foreshore at Middleton Sands. The results will be publicised on the
Port Cities website and via a travelling exhibition. The North East coast has a huge
number of historic wrecks; this is a relatively unknown facet of our maritime heritage
that projects such as this can begin to explore. It also has the purpose of trying to
bring the sea back into the consciousness of communities such as Hartlepool, where,
as a number of writers have put it, people seem over the past two generations to
have “turned their back on the sea", the sea which was very much their communities’
raison d’etre.
Photo: PortCities, Hartlepool
Diver training for the ‘Dig, Dive and Discover’ project
Work on the vast shipbuilding archives at Tyne and Wear Archives Service, which
has been identified by MLA North East and others, as the regional priority for action,
badly needs HLF support. HLF agrees there is “potential” for supporting this work,
but as a matter of policy they will not support purely cataloguing projects. To
command HLF support, large projects need to be constructed in such a way that
there is a significant exploitation, outreach and community involvement element.
69
Large projects need to demonstrate that there is a large potential audience and that
they can put in place the marketing to ensure that this potential is realised. HLF are
unmoved by the argument that quietly investing in serious professional curatorial
work will ensure the long-term usefulness of this irreplaceable heritage for
generations to come; they recognise the need to catalogue but they also want ‘bums
on seats’ now.
From the purely maritime to the more generally coastal, HLF are currently talking at
the pre-application stage to various environmental groups and bodies. The HLF
Regional Director Keith Bartlett has said that they “see landscape projects as a way
forward”.
Is there a question of reduced HLF funding being available for areas such as
maritime heritage due to the support for the 2012 Olympics?
Firstly, for people thinking of projects now, nothing will change at all until after 2009.
Secondly, on 21st June 2006 the Secretary of State announced that as a result of a
major public consultation exercise it has been decided that the share of lottery good
causes income allocated to the heritage sector after 2009 will not be reduced. The
Heritage Lottery Fund will retain its current one-sixth share (4.67 pence for every
lottery ticket sold). Furthermore, the government has made a commitment to a further
10 years of heritage lottery funding, through to the year 2019, giving managers a
greater opportunity for strategic planning.
The Minister announced that key policy priorities will be:
o Increasing participation
o Inspiring young people
o Involving local communities
o Supporting volunteers
o Encouraging creativity and new talent and developing skills
These complement HLF’s own suggested priorities, as set out in their consultation
document ‘Our Heritage, Our Future, Your Say’.
It should go without saying that maritime heritage projects which address one or
more of these priorities stand the best chance of securing HLF funding.
70
HLF funded Maritime Heritage Projects in the Region
The table below, based on data supplied by HLF, shows projects connected with
maritime heritage in the region that have been supported by HLF since 1994. This list
may not include some projects recently approved or where for other reasons data
was not supplied. The amounts of grants listed are the amounts which were offered
in the awards and may not be the sums which were actually paid to projects.
Applicant
Amber Films
Start/end
date
20032005
Grant
Awarded
£
50,000
Project title
A Pilot on the
History of
Amber
Bamburgh
Parish Council
20062007
17,542
Bamburgh
Heritage Trail
Bamburgh
Research Project
2004-
38,500
Kings, Lepers
and Townsfolk.
Looking for the
past inhabitants
of Bamburgh
Bamburgh
Research Project
20032004
9,248
Berwick-uponTweed
Preservation
Trust
Berwick-uponTweed
Preservation
Trust
19972005
57,600
Bamburgh
Environs
Archaeological
Investigation
LHI
Berwick Quay
Restoration
20032005
50,000
Dewar's Lane
Granary,
Berwick: PPG
Berwick-uponTweed Borough
Council
19982005
24,000
Holy Island
CAPS
Blyth Valley
Borough Council
20032005
49,500
'Spirit of the
Staithes'
71
Project description
To transfer the film ‘In
Fading Light’ made by
Amber in 1989, from
tape to digital format
Local Heritage Initiative
project creating a selfguided trail focusing on
the village, the Farne
Islands and the Stag
rocks.
To investigate the
village and castle at
Bamburgh using a
range of archaeological
techniques, and to
involve the local
community in fieldwork.
archaeology survey
project.
Acquisition and
restoration of Berwick
Quayside.
Project Planning Grant
(PPG) for restoration of
this 18th Century
building and
conversion to mixed
residential, commercial
and cultural use.
Repair of historic
buildings,
reinstatement of lost
architectural features
and environmental
enhancement.
Artwork at Blyth
Quayside celebrating
the industrial heritage
of the port.
Blyth Valley
Borough Council
2003-
32,400
Blyth Battery
PPG
Cleveland Divers
20012003
6,700
Shipwreck
Dimitris LHI
Corporation of
The NewcastleUpon-Tyne
Trinity House
Craster
Community
Development
Trust
Depaul Trust
19992002
211,500
Trinity House
Development
Scheme
To secure the future of
the Grade II listed
Watch House building
and its collection of
maritime exhibits.
for the restoration and
development of the
Blyth Battery site.
project on local
shipwreck.
Refurbishment and
development of this
Class I listed building.
2003-
15,521
Craster, A
Village History
project.
2006
24,400
When Walker
Ruled The
World
Easington
District Council
2006-
45,000
Seaham North
Dock
Restoration
Scheme, study
Durham County
Council
19982006
120,000
Seaham CAPS
Durham County
Council
-
343,000
Noses Point,
Dawdon Gateway to the
Heritage Coast
Project on Robert
Chambers of Walker,
19th Century World
Champion rower.
Study on public
access. Conservation
study to ensure that
plans are sympathetic
to the heritage.
Audience Development
plan to look at
engaging the
community in the work.
The grant proposed will
restore the North Dock
and reinstate original
features.
Improvement of
properties in town
centre; environmental
improvements to North
Terrace, North Terrace
Green, North Dock and
Promenade.
To provide a strategic
gateway to the Durham
Heritage Coast,
developing community
ownership. Natural
environment
improvements, visitor
facilities, community
participation, marketing
and promotion.
Blyth Valley
Borough Council
49,300
The Watch
House
Museum,
Seaton Sluice
72
Durham County
Council
2003-
33,100
Community
Education and
Advocacy for
the Durham
Heritage Coast
Durham Heritage
Coast
20042005
32,800
Coastal
Connections
Project
Preparation
Equal Arts
2003-
45,000
River Tyne
Memory Map
FISHcast, North
Shields
15,314
-2006
Fish Quay
Historic Quarter
Design
Statement
Friends of
Sunderland Old
Parish Church,
the Rector Grey
Society
-
20,570
Sunderland,
The Story of a
Seaport
Gateshead
Borough Council
(Tyne & Wear
Archives)
20032005
49,900
Access to
Archives for
Shipbuilding in
Tyne and Wear
(Ark) – PPG
Gateshead
Borough Council
2000-
137,500
Maiden’s Walk
Coal Drops –
Restoration
73
To involve local
communities in
activities, increase
awareness and foster a
sense of ownership
and pride over local
heritage. To
encourage participation
in the sustainable
management of the
Heritage Coast.
An access and an
audience development
plan to develop direct
legal multi-user access
to, and along, the
Durham Heritage
Coast.
To record memories of
older people’s
experiences connected
with the river. To
create listening posts
on banks of the river as
a memory trail for
locals and tourists.
project producing a
Character Statement
for the redevelopment
area.
project recording and
sharing the past of
Sunderland as a
seaport, including an
oral history project.
To produce a report on
the shipbuilding
collections in their care.
A strategy for
implementing a
conservation
programme and for
improving access to
the collections.
Excavation of
contaminated infill,
reinstatement of coal
drop chutes, provision
of safe public access
for viewing and
production of
interpretative material.
Grace Darling
Memorial Trust
20022003
25,000
Grace Darling
Memorial
Groundwork
East Durham
2006-
49,000
Seaham
Harbour – The
Hidden History
of East
Durham’s
Mining Heritage
Groundwork
South Tyneside
2003
7,500
The Vikings!
Hartlepool
Borough Council
2003-
1,000,000
Headland,
Hartlepool THI
Hartlepool
Borough Council
19992006
75,000
Hartlepool
Headland
CAPS
Hartlepool
Borough Council
2003-
34,600
Hartlepool
Headland Story
Trail Project
Hartlepool
Borough Council
2006-
24,900
Dig, Dive and
Discover
HMS
Trincomalee
Trust, Hartlepool
19951997
975,000
HMS
Trincomalee
Restoration
Project 1
74
project to restore the
memorial.
Education programme
to increase
understanding of the
‘hidden heritage’ of
Seaham Harbour and
the area’s coal mining
heritage.
Complementing
Easington District
Council’s programme
to redevelop the
harbour.
Providing interactive
education sessions for
30 schools with a living
history expert, working
with young people to
examine and
investigate replica
artefacts, traditional
crafts, etc.
Restoration to enable
reuse of vacant listed
buildings,
reinstatement of
architectural details,
etc.
A structural repair fund
to offer grants to
terraced street houses,
and fund the
restoration of key
buildings and
environmental works.
To employ a writer in
residence to work with
partner organisations in
a range of activities to
form the core of
planned story trails.
Nautical Archaeology
project to make young
people aware of
Hartlepool’s maritime
heritage.
Restoration of the 1817
HMS Trincomalee.
HMS
Trincomalee
Trust, Hartlepool
19982001
4,005,000
HMS
Trincomalee
Restoration
Project II
HMS
Trincomalee
Trust, Hartlepool
19972001
116,250
HMS
Trincomalee –
Development
Study
The Great
Storm of 1901
Maritime
2002Archaeology
Project,
North
Tyneside
24,243
Middlesbrough
Borough Council
818,500
The
Trust
19971999
National 2006
Newcastle
Council
City 20022005
24,970
Captain Cook
Birthplace
Museum
Lindisfarne
Castle
Upturned
Boats Project
137,000
Ouseburn
Heritage
Community
Education
Project
North
East 2005Regional
Museums Hub
44,500
Memory Net:
People and
Communities
of the Sea
North of England 2005Civic Trust
36,600
Maritime
Discovery
Days 2005
North Tyneside Council
437,500
Regeneration
of North
Shields Fish
Quay
75
Completion of the
Trincomalee
restoration project to
restore the ship HMS
Trincomalee and
establish a visitor
centre.
Development study to
establish plans to
create visitor facilities
on the shoreside.
project researching the
storm in which 46 ships
were lost between
Berwick and the Tees.
Phase 3 restoration of
the Captain Cook
Birthplace Museum.
project to involve the
community in research
and conservation of the
boats.
To create new
audiences for
Ouseburn Valley’s
heritage, assisting 20
community groups in
developing a
programme, and
creating new
interpretation facilities
for the disabled.
Memory Net will create
a new digital resource
of material related to,
and created by, the
people and
communities of the sea
in the North East.
To help raise
awareness of the
Maritime History of the
North East during the
year of the sea,
SeaBritain 2005.
One element of a wideranging initiative to
regenerate the historic
Fish Quay area. To
complement the work
of the English Heritage
Partnership Scheme.
North Tyneside
Council
19982006
North Tyneside
Council
-
Northumberland
County Council
2006-
Redcar and
Cleveland
Borough Council
2000-
Royal National
Lifeboat
Institution (RNLI)
2004-
South Shields
Volunteer Life
Brigade
2000
South Tyneside
Council
-
169,000
Tynemouth
Village CAPS
Restoration of historic
public memorials.
Expansion of
Conservation Area
buildings grant
scheme; environmental
improvements and
landscape.
42,000
St Mary’s
Provision of nonIsland,
ambulatory access to
Whitley Bay – St Mary’s Island,
Phase 2
lighthouse, bird-hide
and visitor centre.
25,000
Northumberland To provide young
Coast AONB
people with the
Young Rangers opportunity to learn
Pilot
about the natural and
cultural heritage of the
AONB and learn
practical coastal and
countryside skills. To
develop
recommendations on
how to involve young
people in the care and
management of the
AONB.
1,208,000 Saltburn by
Refurbishing the Grade
the Sea Pier
II* listed pier, the only
Restoration
surviving pier on the
North East Coast.
Redevelopment to
997,500
Resecure the museum
development
collection for future
and regenerations.
interpretation
of the
Museum
Repair and restoration
21,400
Brigade
Watch House, of the Grade II Coast
South Shields Rescue Watch House,
located on the South
– Repair
Pier, to ensure its
continued use.
3,922,500 South Shields To restore and
South Marine refurbish the park as a
Park
prime example of a
Victorian sea-front
urban park and an
important asset to
community life.
76
Southwick
Health and
Community
Forum,
Sunderland
St Thomas More
RC High School
-2006
23,580
Southwick
Memories
Revisited
– Community history
project including
Southwick shipyard.
20032005
22,800
Cranes, Boats
and Trains
Sunderland City
Council
19972005
326,800
Old
Sunderland
Riverside
CAPS
Sunderland
Maritime
Heritage
2006-
49,100
Maritime
Educational
Awareness
Programme
Tyne & Wear
Archives Service
2006-
38,000
Mauretania:
Pride of the
Tyne, An
Archives 4 All
Project
Tyne & Wear
Museums
19992002
4,518,000
Discovery
Museum,
Newcastle
Tyne & Wear
Museums
2001-
4,140,000
Discovery
Museum
Phase 2
Tynemouth
Volunteer Life
Brigade
20032005
15,100
Repair and
Restoration of
the Volunteer
Life Brigade
HQ. PPG
To produce an oral
history of Tyneside’s
shipyards. Acquiring
historical knowledge,
developing interviewing
techniques, producing
a CD Rom.
Resurfacing footways
and carriageways
using natural materials
to secure a high quality
street scene that
enhances the setting of
restored historic
buildings.
To promote awareness
of Sunderland maritime
heritage through
activities involving
presentations, visits,
interactive talks, videos
and demonstrations.
For the centenary of
the launch of the
Mauretania, a
collaborative exhibition
from the Archives
Service and Tyne &
Wear Museums
Redevelopment of the
Discovery Museum
including display of the
Turbinia.
Phase two of remodelling the
Discovery Museum,
including the new
‘Story of the Tyne’
gallery.
for Repair and
Conservation of the
Brigade Watch House,
Caretaker’s Cottage
and Ancillary Buildings.
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University of
Newcastle upon
Tyne (Dove
Marine
Laboratory)
2006-
141,500
University of
Newcastle upon
Tyne (Dove
Marine
Laboratory)
2006-
49,900
West End
Residents
Association,
Tweedmouth
-
24,532
Sustaining our
Coastal
Heritage: the
value of local
knowledge
Encouraging Blyth
Community to become
involved in their
maritime history
through learning,
access and enjoyment.
Blyth Valley:
Work with a wide range
Conserving our of community groups,
Environmental reports, media
Heritage
activities and
development of
education packs and
activities to raise
awareness.
Tweedmouth
History and
community project to
Heritage Trail research and establish
a heritage trail by the
riverside.
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English Heritage
English Heritage, as the official body charged with guarding and promoting the
nation’s heritage, is involved in maritime heritage from several different perspectives
The first responsibility of English Heritage is conservation. This remit is carried out by
involvement in the planning process, with statutory functions such as protecting
ancient monuments by listing. This generally prevents their removal and limits
alterations. It is also carried out by providing advice to owners and others responsible
for the historic environment. Maritime features in the region which are listed include
not only buildings such as lighthouses and dock offices, and structures such as
graving docks, piers and harbour walls, but also such diverse structures as a
defensible latrine in a back garden near Seaton Sluice and the headstone of
torpedoed Norwegian sailors in the cemetery at Embleton.
As the national archaeology service, English Heritage has a hands-on as well as an
advisory role, working closely with other archaeologists and conservation specialists
from local authorities, universities and other bodies. Since 2002 this remit also
extends to nautical archaeology within 12 miles of the coast. English Heritage
archaeologists are involved in regional maritime sites ranging from the ‘Designation’
as a nationally important shipwreck, of the remains of a wooden sailing ship - mostly
buried in the sand at Seaton Carew, to the recording and evaluation of World War II
concrete debris on the dunes and beaches all along the coast.
English Heritage can give grants directly to individuals, organisations and local
authorities for conservation, through funding streams such as Historic Environment
Regeneration, and for research purposes, as well as advising the HLF on allocation
of lottery money.
The Fish Quay at North Shields has been offered Historic Environment Regeneration
funding (£75,000 in year one) as part of its major regeneration project which also
draws on HLF and European funding. The project involves conservation of historic
buildings and the consolidation and interpretation of Clifford’s Fort, a Scheduled
Ancient Monument. Substantial Historic Environment Regeneration funding has also
benefited the Hartlepool Headland and Tynemouth village.
Clifford’s Fort and Smoke Houses, North Shields Fish Quay
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A “Regional Capacity Fund” has helped finance the proposed employment of a
Maritime Officer for the Berwick / North Northumberland Coast European Maritime
Site and, during 2005, funding for a Maritime Discovery Project intended to raise
awareness of the maritime history of the North East helped finance events coinciding
with SeaBritain 2005.
English Heritage also directly manages sites and monuments in state care. In this
region there are several with strong maritime connections, Berwick Barracks (which
also houses the Borough Museum and its maritime collections), Lindisfarne Priory,
Dunstanburgh Castle, Warkworth Castle and Tynemouth Priory and Castle.
English Heritage has a role to educate and engage people in heritage, and is
involved in numerous public events, not only at these directly managed sites but also
at other venues. Various events took place in connection with SeaBritain 2005 and
the visit of the Tall Ships to the region. There was a weekend of living history reenactments at Berwick-upon-Tweed in partnership with the Borough Council and the
Civic Society, and a ‘Tribute to Trafalgar’ event at Tynemouth Priory in August 2005
which was one of a series of Trafalgar events at various EH sites across the country.
This was an ambitious and expensive event, involving construction of a replica gun
deck, borrowing a canon from the Royal Armouries, recruiting and training a gun
crew and even making their uniforms. The organisers did not consider it a success as
the admissions income from the relatively low number of visitors attending (565) did
not cover the expenditure.
Photo: English Heritage
A Pirate weekend with family theatre at Lindisfarne was more successful in terms of
visitor numbers, and a Viking raid on the Island in July was so successful that they
intend to return to murder and pillage again in 2006.
Photo: English Heritage
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There is also a strong regional maritime element in the annual Heritage Open Days
programme, which is organised nationally by the Civic Trust in partnership with
English Heritage. The Open Days take place across the country over three days in
September and give access to sites which are not normally open to the public, or free
access to sites where there is normally an admission charge. In 2005, numerous
sites including Trinity House in Newcastle and the River Wear Commissioners
Offices in Sunderland were involved, and similar events will take place in 2006.
English Heritage also funded the project which is producing this present survey. This
is a capacity building project for the Maritime Heritage community. As well as
producing this survey, evaluating the maritime heritage in the North East and looking
at the priorities, the project is producing interpretation leaflets and guides for visitors.
Finally, English Heritage has an important research role, which may have significant
medium to long-term benefits for the region’s maritime sites. One area of research
currently supported looks at the effects of marine aggregate dredging. Another looks
at wind energy from a maritime perspective, for example the siting of wind farms to
avoid areas of historical sensitivity, such as raised areas of seabed suited to turbine
construction, which may also be areas of high potential for submerged historic
remains. A major study is on climate change, which may have dramatic effects on
sea levels and coastal erosion. This research feeds into the Rapid Coastal Zone
Assessment, a characterisation exercise to understand and plot sites and assets by
Geographical Information Systems (GIS), in order to better manage them within the
planning and conservation framework and assess what counter-measures may be
required for their protection. In Northumberland, this work forms part of a partnership
coastal heritage initiative led by the County Council.
English Heritage does not work in isolation and it is through partnerships with a host
of others, including local authorities, landowners, the HLF and other funders,
academics and community and amenity groups, that it seeks to preserve and
promote maritime heritage in the region.
81
82
The National Trust
2005, the year which was designated SeaBritain by the National Maritime Museum in
commemoration of the bicentenary of Trafalgar, had a special significance for the
National Trust. It marked the 40th anniversary of the start of the Neptune Coastal
Campaign (originally Enterprise Neptune), the Trust’s campaign to acquire, preserve
and protect coastal properties.
In the North East that anniversary was also marked by the acquisition by the Trust of
Farne Lighthouse. The Farne Islands came to the Trust in 1925, but the lighthouse
was retained by Trinity House. Now it has been automated and the buildings
acquired by the Trust, initially being used to house the seasonal wardens who spend
the summer on the island protecting and studying the nesting marine birds.
With 760 miles (1,130 km) of coastline in its care, the Trust now owns nearly one
tenth of the coast of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and is Britain’s largest
coastal landowner. In the North East, the Trust has coastal properties on the Farne
Islands and Holy Island (including Lindisfarne Castle), and coastal land and buildings
including St. Aidan’s Dunes just south of Bamburgh, Beadnell limekilns, Newton
Links, five miles of coast between Low Newton and Craster, Alnmouth and Buston
Links to the south of Alnmouth, and at Druridge Bay. To the south of the Tyne, there
are the Leas, Marsden Rock and Souter Lighthouse, and a ribbon of south Durham
coast, Hawthorne Dene, Beacon Hill, Horden Beach and Warren House Gill.
At Trust properties such as these all down the coast there are conservation issues
where the forces of tidal erosion interact with man’s contributions to the shoreline.
There are issues along the north Northumberland coast over the recording and
retention of World War II debris, and similarly down in Durham where at Blast Beach,
just south of Seaham, one concrete pillbox is perched on a cliff and another stranded
on the beach – bringing problems of health and safety, and of vandalism.
The ‘Black Beaches’ of County Durham have been a feature of the coast since back
before living memory, as for a century huge quantities of colliery waste were dumped
on the beaches - until the end of mining in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Trust was
heavily involved for a decade in the ambitious environmental regeneration project to
clean up the beaches. Now the beaches are reverting to their pre-1940 shoreline
there are new challenges as some heritage sites become exposed and vulnerable.
Items such as Neolithic flints are turning up all along the coast, and there is a new
need for field walking and recording.
Much of the Trust’s work on the coast is in an environmental context, rather than
being strictly concerned with maritime heritage, but alongside the nature
conservation role runs a remit for archaeological work and conservation, and
interpretation of the historic built environment that involves the Trust’s archaeologist
and other staff, as well as partnerships with many other interested bodies and
several maritime archaeological and conservation projects are underway or planned.
83
Two of the famous upturned boat sheds that were destroyed by fire at Lindisfarne
have been replaced with support from HLF Local Heritage Initiative funding and the
Northumberland Coast AONB, with advice from Robert Prescott from the University
of St Andrews, who is doing research on the other upturned boats on Holy Island and
will be giving a talk at Lindisfarne this year on traditional boat building.
National Trust Archaeologist Harry Beamish at Beadnell Limekilns
The Limekilns at Beadnell are in need of consolidation. This is a priority and a bid is
under preparation for exploratory work and an engineer’s report. Funding for this is
likely to be a combination of National Trust central funding and AONB / English
Heritage funds. Included in the bid is recording which will lead to improved
interpretation. Other work planned includes recording of the limekilns below
Lindisfarne Castle.
At Velvet Beds, at the north end of Marsden Bay, there is an old harbour that needs
to be surveyed and interpreted, and at Trow Point, to the north of Marsden Bay,
there is a complex of quarries and gun emplacements similarly needing survey and
interpretation. Just inland from Souter Lighthouse, Marsden Quarries, a Scheduled
Ancient Monument, is a huge site of quarries and limekilns that is a potential
consolidation and interpretation project.
84
Another priority for future action at Marsden Bay is the old concrete steps leading
down onto the beach, which are damaged, “horrible and dangerous” in the words of
Nick Dolan, the National Trust’s Manager at Souter Lighthouse, and need upgrading.
There is also a very unattractive concrete former lifeguard station at this point, which
the Trust would like to see removed.
As well as conservation and interpretation, the Trust also runs an extensive
programme of public events, lectures and guided walks with a maritime heritage
angle at its flagship properties of Souter Lighthouse in the south and Lindisfarne
Castle in the North.
To coincide with SeaBritain 2005, a number of major events were staged at Souter
Lighthouse and the Leas. In July there was a ‘Festival of the Sea’, in August a ‘Wreck
and Rescue Day’, and in October the Inner State Theatre Company staged a
performance based on the Battle of Trafalgar.
Souter Lighthouse is a maritime heritage site in its own right; the lighthouse dates
from 1871 and was a technological marvel of its age. It was in service until 1988 then
passed to the National Trust and opened to the public in 1990. The engine room,
light tower and living quarters are on view, with exhibitions on historic and
contemporary themes related to lighthouses, the perils of the sea and shipwreck.
There are three fishing cobles high and dry on the lighthouse site including a replica
of Grace Darling’s coble that was built as a training project and housed in the Trinity
Maritime Centre until its closure. The site specialises in school and educational visits
and activities. In 2005, there were 23,000 visitors passing into the paid exhibition
area, and many thousands more visiting the general site and attending events,
The National Trust works with a host of partners along the coast. An important
partnership is with the Northumberland Coast AONB. The Trust archaeologist has
written the text for the AONB’s publications on the historic environment theme, and is
leading a number of historic walks organised by the AONB over the summer of 2006.
AONB funds are assisting the provision of new interpretation panels at Low Newton.
Trust staff at Souter have been involved in the Tyne and Wear Museums / Museums
Hub ‘Memory Net project and the SeaBritain events involved working closely with the
Museums Hub. Another project at Souter has involved working with Beamish
Museum to develop interpretation and presentation to school audiences of Marsden
Village. The Lindisfarne boats project involved community groups on the Island, the
County Archaeologist and Historic Buildings Officer and MLA North East.
85
There is necessarily partnership working with the local authorities covering Trust
properties, for example with South Tyneside Council over the erosion issues at Trow
Quarry, on a Heritage Trail and on a new emergency marking system stretching
down the coast from South Shields Groyne down to the south end of Whitburn Local
Nature Reserve.
Peat bog and tree stumps at least 5,000 years old,
revealed by erosion at Low Hauxley
Perhaps the most significant partnerships and the most significant long-term issues
facing the Trust’s coastal properties are those to do with coastal erosion. Shoreline
Management Plans (SMPs) are a nationwide initiative sponsored by DEFRA. Begun
in the 1990s, SMPs have been prepared on a regional basis and are aimed at
understanding and mapping coastal processes such as erosion and accretion in
order to produce a long-term, high-level policy framework to reduce the risks to
people and the developed, historic and natural environment in a sustainable manner.
The second generation of SMPs, SMP2, are currently being developed. ‘Coastal
groups’, made up of coastal district authorities and other bodies with coastal defence
responsibilities, provide a forum for discussion and co-operation and play an
important part in the development of SMPs for their area. The National Trust is part
of the Coastal Group for the North East SMP2.
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The Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership
The Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB) was
designated in 1958. It covers the 39 miles (64 km) of coastline between the Tweed at
Berwick and the Coquet at Amble and is between 50 metres and 2.5 km in width. It is
the responsibility of the local authorities within whose jurisdiction this coastal strip
falls to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the AONB. These authorities are
Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council, Alnwick District Council and Northumberland
County Council.
Countryside Agency guidance on AONBs says that ‘Natural beauty is not just the
look of the landscape, but includes landforms and geology, plants and animals,
landscape features and the rich history of human settlement over centuries’, which
would seem to place various maritime heritage features firmly within the remit.
In 2003 the three local authorities set up the Northumberland Coast AONB
Partnership to plan and co-ordinate the management of the AONB and encourage
public access and understanding.
In addition to the local authorities, members of the partnership include the
Countryside Agency, English Nature, English Heritage, the National Trust, the
Environment Agency, DEFRA, Community Development Trusts, Parish Councils, the
Country Land & Business Association, the National Farmers Union and
representatives of local communities.
In their Management Plan for 2004-2009 the Partnership included these
management aims:
o
o
o
To improve the identification and conservation of historic sites and features
that are important to the character, distinctiveness and understanding of the
historic environment
To increase community involvement in all stages of identifying and conserving
the historic environment
To facilitate understanding of and physical and intellectual access to the
historic environment without damaging its integrity.
Policies adopted to achieve these aims include production of a Historic Landscape
Character Assessment (being delivered by Northumberland County Council),
extension of the survey and recording of historic features, encouraging conservation
plans, and identifying and preserving cultural heritage.
The AONB Partnership has core staff based at County Hall, Morpeth. On the ground,
the policies are delivered by the partner organisations.
The AONB is funded 75% by the Countryside Agency. The remainder comes from
the local authorities, 15% from Northumberland County Council, and 5% each from
Alnwick and Berwick District Councils. The AONB also draws in funding from other
sources to deliver specific projects, for example Local Heritage Initiative (LHI) funding
was obtained to deliver Heritage Walks at Bamburgh, Embleton and Alnmouth.
The AONB’s core funding is largely used as ‘seed corn’ to develop projects. The
AONB also has two grant-giving schemes, a Small Grants Scheme which gives
awards up to £3,000 and a Sustainable Development Fund scheme which can grant
awards up to £20,000.
87
AONB funding is used quite extensively on cultural heritage projects, for example by
giving assistance to:
o
o
o
o
o
The Historic Landscape Characterisation undertaken by Northumberland
County Council
The National Trust with work on the upturned boats on Lindisfarne
Publishing work on the archaeology of Bamburgh by Northumberland County
Council’s conservation team
The Mesolithic hut reconstruction by Newcastle University archaeologist Clive
Waddington at Howick
Work on fishing heritage at Newcastle University
Unlike the HLF and some other funders, the AONB is able to fund individuals and
groups that might not have charitable trust status as such. However, applications for
this kind of funding, which began in 2004/5, are highly competitive and funding is
already fully committed up to the end of 2006/7.
The AONB is interested in doing more interpretive work on maritime heritage, and is
looking at potential projects on lighthouses, fishing, and marine archaeology.
Tom Cadwallender, Natural and Cultural Heritage Officer at the AONB Partnership
has said, “The purely maritime has been the weakest side of our work so far”, but
they have identified some areas as priorities for action.
These include coastal defences, for example looking at the concrete anti tank blocks
that are found on the beaches all down the coast. “Before their value was
appreciated”, these blocks were recycled in various places for use in tidal antierosion defences. Now, archaeologists are keen that cubes remaining in their original
locations should be regarded as archaeological features, that they should not be
moved, and could even become listed.
World War II anti-tank blocks at Alnmouth
Blocks recycled as harbour improvements
at Beadnell in the late 1940s, “before their
value was appreciated”
Issues such as these are addressed on a local level, for example by talking with the
engineer from Alnwick District Council about how to record and deal with structures
such as pillboxes that are being revealed and moved by erosion, and supporting a
coastal archaeology programme with archaeologist Clive Waddington working with
volunteers “recording what comes out of the dunes”. The AONB does not necessarily
want to preserve every bit of this military debris but believes that what does remain
88
should at least be recorded and interpreted, and not deliberately or needlessly
destroyed.
Other areas identified as priorities are wrecks and intertidal remains, which need to
be researched, conserved, interpreted and advised upon through English Heritage
and the local authorities. There is a possibility of a project on ‘the moving shoreline’ –
there are a lot of Mesolithic and Stone Age artefacts on the seabed that need work.
The AONB has forged links with the diving community that it is keen to develop in
this context.
One of the latest AONB projects is a guidebook, ‘Exploring the Historic Buildings of
the Northumberland Coast’ published summer 2006 which is described as “a
stimulus” to get people more interested in the historic environment.
A further project is a ‘Good Design Guide’, expected to be completed by mid summer
2006, which will be largely web-based and is intended to assist developers and
property owners with guidance as to what the AONB considers to be good design,
both vernacular and contemporary. It is hoped it will be adopted by the planning
authorities to give guidance and a reference as to what is and isn’t acceptable in the
AONB.
Of the awards made by the AONB under their own grants scheme, Alnmouth Parish
Council have been funded to commission a feasibility study on future uses for two
redundant 19th century lifeboat houses. One possible use being discussed is housing
locally important preserved boats, such as the coble ‘Golden Gate’ from Beadnell.
The rich provenance of this boat’ collected and recorded by local writer Katrina
Porteous’ makes it a prime candidate for preservation, if a home for it could be found.
NORTRAIL, or the North Sea Trail, is an international project in which the AONB are
involved. Partly funded by the EU through the INTEREG IIIB funding stream, it is a
North Sea project linking 26 coastal communities and regions that share a North Sea
heritage – several German, Dutch and Scandinavian partners as well as Scottish
authorities are involved. Stuart Moreland of the Coble & Keelboat Society, who is
involved in the project, says that ”the coastal fishing communities around the North
Sea often have more in common with each other in terms of cultural heritage, despite
differing languages, than they do with their compatriots inland”. As well as forging
links with communities overseas, the project features heritage trails along sections of
coastline. The Scandinavians are using virtual trails. The Northumberland Coast
89
Path, stretching 64 miles (103 km) from Cresswell in the south to Berwick-uponTweed in the north, will be officially launched under the NORTRAIL logo in July 2006,
with an associated publication programme.
The Northumberland Coast AONB partnership has sponsored or supported a series
of events for 2006, run by the AONB and various other organisations, including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Blue Lonnen – an exhibition on coble fishing using the photographs of
Nigel Shuttleworth and specially-commissioned new poems from Katrina
Porteous
Guided walks on the Northumberland Coast Path and St. Cuthbert’s Way
Coastal Art Workshops at Craster and Bamburgh
A Harbour Day at Berwick (RNLI)
Lifeboat (RNLI) Days at Amble and Seahouses (North Sunderland)
Rocky shore safaris and natural history discovery walks
Marine mammal and bird spotting boat trips
The Seahouses Festival
An Open Doors day for Berwick’s historic buildings
A Viking Raiders re-enactment at Lindisfarne (English Heritage)
Kippers, Chippings and a Castle - Limekilns and Lobsterpots - Harbours and
Herring Girls – three historic guided walks with Harry Beamish (National Trust
Archaeologist) and Katrina Porteous (poet and community writer) at Craster,
Beadnell and Seahouses.
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The Durham Heritage Coast Partnership
Under the Heritage Coast scheme, managed by the Countryside Agency,
partnerships have been established in various coastal areas around the country in
order to protect and conserve our coastal heritage and to improve accessibility.
The Durham Heritage Coast stretches from just below Sunderland to just above
Hartlepool, and the Durham Heritage Coast Partnership comprises the local
authorities (Easington District Council, Durham County Council and the City of
Sunderland), statutory agencies and representatives from communities. The core
management costs come 35% from the Countryside Agency and the rest from local
authorities, Easington District Council at 40% being the principal funder.
The Partnership is concerned with landscape value and nature conservation, access
and enjoyment, in the context of social and economic regeneration. It has an ongoing
programme of projects to involve local communities in activities to increase
awareness and foster a sense of ownership and pride over local heritage and to
encourage participation in the sustainable management of the Heritage Coast.
As for maritime heritage, the industrial heritage of the coastal area is concerned with
coal mining and the export of coal forms its main maritime component. The Durham
Heritage Coast Partnership is interested in how this heritage can benefit sustainable
development. Niall Benson, Durham Heritage Coast Officer, has said, “The history is
a history of exploitation. The challenge is to let future generations see and have
access to what is of value. It’s not about preservation, it’s about stewardship”.
Much of Durham’s coastal environment was devastated by industrial use by the coal
industry; at one time 6 collieries were tipping 2 ½ million tons of waste onto beaches
every year. Habitats and landscape were degraded, visitors discouraged and
communities left with little sense of pride in the environment. Since the closure of the
last coal mines in the early 1990s, the area has suffered from widespread social and
economic deprivation.
The heavily degraded coastline emphasised this deprivation until, between 1997 and
2002, fourteen organisations came together in the Turning The Tide Partnership, a
£10 million programme of environmental improvements which has successfully
cleaned up and regenerated the coastal strip.
The success of the Turning the Tide project now provides further opportunities for
environmental conservation and enhancement, community involvement, education
and leisure access and the appreciation of heritage.
The Partnership is primarily concerned with the natural environment rather than the
built environment and the area it manages excludes any housing development by
definition. Seaham Harbour is therefore excluded from the area but the Partnership
recognises that the Georgian port at Seaham is a major heritage feature, indeed it
could be said to be the only major monument of the coal industry left in County
Durham. Current plans to rebuild and regenerate the North Dock so that it becomes
an economic and leisure asset and tourist attraction are significant for the whole
area.
The Management plan for the Coast recognises the importance of archaeology and
an archaeological assessment of the area has been carried out. Policy
recommendations emphasise the need to develop archaeological awareness and the
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ongoing need for archaeological recording, monitoring and preservation. Of particular
importance is maritime archaeology and the intertidal zone.
The Partnership is currently developing a Community Environmental Monitoring
Programme, where volunteers on the shore identify key species. This is going to be
extended to identifying and recording potential archaeological finds and sites
revealed by erosion, for example World War II defences.
At least 300 possible shipwreck sites are recorded off this section of the coast and
their recording, protection and interpretation has been identified as a key policy aim.
Niall Benson says, “those wrecks can be a great way to get communities to
appreciate what is special offshore. At present we just look out to sea and see the
view. We don’t really appreciate what is there or why. If you can go to a community
and tell them tales of heroics, what the cargo was, people become more involved and
more interested in what is around them”
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Significant Internet Resources for North East Maritime Heritage
The following sites are major resources on a regional or sub-regional level. There are
also a vast number of individual websites containing information on various aspects
of North East maritime heritage or on particular places and organisations. A good
way of entering the maze would be to follow the links on the web pages of the
various groups, projects and organisations listed.
Memory Net
www.twmuseums.org.uk/memorynet
Memory Net, based at Tyne and Wear Museums, is a virtual collection of oral history,
photographs and video. It has involved filming, recording and photographing people
in their own environment with objects that are important to them as far as Maritime
Heritage is concerned. From May 2006, to launch the project, there is an exhibition in
the ‘People’s Gallery’ at Discovery. People featured on Memory Net include fishing
families, merchant seamen, surfers and workers from the Doxford engine works in
Sunderland and many others whose way of life is connected with seafaring and
seafarers. Memory Net is a SeaBritain Project and has been funded by the Museums
Hub, by HLF, Culture 10, and SeaBritain.
Tomorrow’s History
www.tomorrows-history.com
Tomorrow's History was a two-year HLF-funded project which ran from 2000 – 2002
and produced a major, web-based regional local studies resource for North East
England through work with libraries, museums, archives, and community groups.
Whilst it is not a resource for maritime history as such it showcases a large amount of
material from maritime collections. More details of this material are given under the
heading on archives and libraries.
In addition to the material from libraries, archives and museums, over one hundred
community groups worked during 2001-2002 on projects funded by Tomorrow’s
History, ranging from small-scale local history days to larger projects. The following
Tomorrow’s History Community Projects worked with maritime heritage themes and
sources.
o ‘The Story of Seaham’, by the Story of Seaham Group
o North Shields Fishermen’s Mission 1899-2001
o ‘The Lighthouse Keeper Speaks’, oral history project by the Friends of St.
Mary’s Island
o ‘The Northumbrian Coble’ – Coble and Keelboat Society
o ‘Historic Ports of Berwick’ – leaflet researched and published by the Friends
of Berwick and District Museum and Archives
o ‘Ouseburn Voices’ – oral history project by the Ouseburn Heritage Group
o ‘Cleveland Divers’ – Dimitris project
o ‘The Great Storm of 1901’ – Maritime Archaeology Project
o ‘Always Ready: 135 years of coast rescue’ – South Shields Volunteer Life
Brigade
o ‘Sunderland, Yesterday’s Town, Today’s City’ – Monkwearmouth Local
History Group
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SITELINES
sine7.ncl.ac.uk/sl/index.htm
Launched in January 2005 this is the incredibly thorough and detailed web version of
the Tyne and Wear Historic Environment Record (formerly known as the Sites and
Monuments Record or SMR). It includes descriptive and historic data from a report
on the shipyards of Tyne and Wear produced by the Archaeological Practice in 2005
together with maps and data on all other historic maritime features on Tyneside and
Wearside.
Keys to the Past
www.keystothepast.info
Heritage Lottery Funded project giving access to the Sites and Monuments Records
of both Northumberland and Durham. 24,000 historical sites, parish overviews and
modern and historic mapping.
PortCities - Hartlepool
http://www.portcities.org.uk/
The PortCities project is an Internet digitisation project led by the National Maritime
Museum (NMM) and funded by the New Opportunities Fund with web portal
managed by the NMM. Different cities connected with the sea are involved in
digitising content from libraries, museums and archives for the World Wide Web.
From the North East region, Hartlepool is represented (Newcastle might have been
expected to be involved but Newcastle was already involved in the Sense of Place
North East project). The source material is drawn from Hartlepool’s libraries,
museums and archives, including the records of shipbuilders William Gray and co.
Contents include sections entitled Ships and Shipping, Owning Ships, Building Ships,
Marine Trades, Wrecks and Accidents, Maritime Archaeology, Port and Town, Docks
and Buildings.
Sense of Place North East (SOPNE)
http://www.sopne.org.uk/sopne.nsf/a/home
Sense of Place North East is a group of Internet projects about the North East of
England.
This partnership site is a gateway to thousands of images and sounds that give an
insight into what makes the North East special. It is a portal to learning resources
about the people, culture, history, landscape, and nature of the North East. SOPNE
includes the FARNE project, IMAGINE and Fish Tales, all described below.
IMAGINE
http://www.sopne.org.uk/sopne.nsf/a/imagine
Part of the SOPNE project, IMAGINE gives access to 15,000 images of objects from
Tyne and Wear Museums' collections including maritime material, notably the world
class collection of ship models.
FARNE
http://www.sopne.org.uk/sopne.nsf/a/farne
Part of the SOPNE project, and included here to remind us that maritime heritage
includes cultural heritage such as music and folksong. FARNE - Folk Archive
Resource North East - is an innovative project on Northumbrian music. Material
including music manuscripts, song lyrics, sound recordings and photographs are
being brought together on the Internet. Material ranging from Henry Atkinson’s
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tunebook of 1694 to sound recordings of musicians from the twentieth century is
being digitised. Partners in the FARNE project are North Music Trust, The Sage
Gateshead, Gateshead Council and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Museums and libraries from across North East England are contributing to the
collection, as well as individuals who own rare recordings or photographs.
Fish Tales
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/fishtales/
Part of the SOPNE project, the Fish Tales site contains ‘a learning journey’ including
nearly 200 photographs, objects, documents, paintings, oral histories and songs
relating to the North East fishing industry and its communities.
Northumberland Communities
http://www.sopne.org.uk/sopne.nsf/a/north
The Northumberland Communities website contains a range of learning resources,
drawn from the holdings of the County Archives Service, reflecting Northumberland’s
Heritage.
It provides a starting point for understanding the development of communities within
Northumberland and provides an introduction to the range of resources available
through the Archives service. The material focuses on 76 key communities, including
Alnmouth, Amble, Bamburgh, Beadnell, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Blyth, Craster,
Embleton, Holy Island, Newbiggin, Seahouses, Seaton Sluice and Scremerston.
Original source material includes early maps; plans of significant buildings; extracts
from directories; church records; court records; photographs; and oral history
recordings.
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Seaham Harbour
Seaham Harbour was built for Lord Londonderry, to serve his collieries, in 1828. It is
still a working port, handling 500,000 tonnes of cargo per annum.
The oldest part, the North Dock, has inner dock walls and wave screens Grade II
listed. It was a thriving coal dock until the 1940s but has not been used commercially
as a port since 1952. The tidal lock gates were taken off and the harbour left
undredged. The harbour was used by up to 55 fishing boats until the 1970s, but with
the decline in fishing, only three small fishing boats now use the dock, potting for
crabs and lobsters.
North Dock in the early 1900s, with collier brigs and a steam collier loading coal
Photo: FONDS
By 1997, when the community of Seaham was at a low ebb after the colliery
closures, the North Dock was also in a bad way. Adjoining beaches, which had
always been used by the community, were polluted and closed off, the dock’s owners
fenced off the dock because of vandalism, dereliction and safety concerns. Sea
anglers from the community, who had used the dock for a century, were denied
access and “the town turned its back on the sea”.
Since 2003 there has been a remarkable turnaround. Firstly, an alliance of 10
community organisations, Friends of North Dock Seaham (FONDS), was forged by a
local community activist, ex-miner Norman Conn, to campaign for regeneration of the
Dock. Secondly, the Port was bought by new owners, The Victoria Dock Company,
with a new MD, Alan Luscombe, who sees the potential of a liability and an eyesore
being transformed into a self-financing, heritage-oriented community asset.
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With Norman Conn as the driving force, the beaches have been cleaned up and reopened, dereliction has been halted, routes and walkways improved and made safe,
and access to the dock is once again permitted.
Community champion Norman Conn at the beach he has seen returned to the community
With HLF funding for project planning and initial work, there are big plans for the
future. The next phase is to fit anti-surge gates and dredge the dock to maintain 2m
of water at low tide, to install mooring pontoons to create a viable haven (a ‘haven’
not a ‘marina’ says Alan Luscombe) for use by yachts, motor boats, fishermen and
dive boats.
Seaham North Dock today: dereliction has been halted, regeneration begun
Against a background of regenerated housing in the Grade II listed Bath Terrace and
Londonderry Dock Offices on the headland above the dock, an application has been
made to One North East for funding to include building 12 business units to rent out
as cafes and restaurants, boat service businesses and for divers and fishermen. The
idea is to blend the old Georgian dock architecture with quality new design, not to
create a pastiche. Income from the dock will be from rental of units, boat income and
ship’s fees. The old 1890 lifeboat house is seen as a potential heritage venue and
visitor centre. Perhaps there is also the possibility of doing something exciting with
Tall Ships.
Easington District Council is involved as the planning authority, and Durham County
Council is giving conservation advice.
“Everybody’s on the same wavelength – the Company, the Council, the
Community. They all want to see it happen.”
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HMS Trincomalee
Built in 1817, listed on the National Register of Historic Vessels of the UK, HMS
Trincomalee is the oldest warship afloat in the UK and the last commissioned frigate
of the Nelson era.
In the 1980s, HMS Warrior, the first of the ironclad warships was restored at
Hartlepool and subsequently went for preservation and display at Portsmouth.
Out of that success came the project to restore the Trincomalee, which had been
used as a training ship at Portsmouth but had deteriorated beyond use, and was
facing being towed out to sea and sunk for target practice, as had happened with
HMS Implacable.
On the basis of the Warrior experience, Hartlepool bid to take the vessel for
restoration, under the ownership of a small charitable trust. With financial backing
from the Teesside Development Corporation, who saw it as a flagship project for the
renaissance of the town, she came to Hartlepool (where she had served as a drill
ship from 1862-1877) in 1987.
Photo: HMS Trincomalee Trust
The HMS Trincomalee Trust undertook major restoration work between 1990 and
2000 at a cost of £10.5 million and ¾ million skilled man-hours. It is estimated that
about £8 million went back into the community in the form of wages and purchasing,
and a rotting hulk was transformed into an award-winning maritime attraction. Bryn
Hughes, manager of the Trust, says “We could have built a replica in half the time for
half the money, but in heritage terms Trincomalee is 60-65% original. HMS Victory is
only about 20% original.”
Now marketed with the Historic Quay and the Museum of Hartlepool as the
Hartlepool Maritime Experience, Trincomalee is the flagship of Hartlepool. She has
assisted in the renaissance of Hartlepool and the growth of its maritime heritage
importance. She is important both in her own right and symbolically. She is important
to the town in terms of the development of the Marina and the Quays area.
Trincomalee is a member of the Big Ships Forum, a group that comprises vessels
including the Victory, the Warrior, SS Great Britain, the Discovery at Dundee and the
Royal Yacht Britannia. All are centred in cities and are being used to generate or
increase tourism and bring an economic benefit. Bryn Hughes says, “These ships
can be compared with historic houses. The historic structure, be it a building or a
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ship, needs a connected use, otherwise it will fall into disrepair. They have to work in
conjunction with the local authority as an attraction.”
Restoring the ship is not enough, it needs a commercial use
Gift Aid declarations show that 43% of visitors to Trincomalee come from outside a
two-hour drive area. Regional tourism bodies should look at that 43% - maritime
attractions are having a regional economic impact. It is no secret that Hartlepool had
problems locally after an inward-looking industrial base had collapsed. It was a shock
and a surprise to many people, in Hartlepool and elsewhere, that the town could
become a tourist attraction, but it has happened. It has also regenerated the locality
in ways that would have been hard to envisage. There are restaurants round the new
marina, which not so many years ago was a derelict and dangerous wasteland of
disused docks, where you won’t get a table on a Saturday night without booking in
advance. The maritime heritage complex has become a significant factor in the new
economy of Hartlepool, and Trincomalee is a vital piece of that complex.
The skills training programme developed for Warrior and Trincomalee has come to
an end. At its height in 2000 there were 48 employees, of which 35 were hands-on
ship workers, and two apprentices a year were also trained. This number had to be
reduced as restoration was completed; now there are three full-time employees
working directly on the ship, two shipwright/carpenters and one rigger. Although
people may have wanted to, there was not the funding to restore another ship in
Hartlepool – it became clear that the primary concern had to be the sustainability of
the Trincomalee.
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The last major work was the fitting of the upper yards in November 2005. At the
same time some of the upper rigging, fitted in 1996, had to be replaced. The decision
was made in 1996 to use original material, hemp rope, for the rigging. The result of
using authentic period materials for restoration is that you get authentic period repair
and maintenance issues with them. This time the upper rigging has been replaced
with a man-made cable laid cordage. By 2006 there was no longer a workforce at
Hartlepool to carry out the work required, simply because it would be impossible to
maintain an appropriate workforce without a continuity of projects, and hugely
uneconomic to train a new team just for that job. The work was put out to tender and
was awarded to the Cutty Sark who have a technical team of 6 skilled riggers who
worked with the Trincomalee Trust team. One of the areas the Big Ships Forum will
be looking at is developing a co-operative specialised skills base.
The Trust’s priority is now to develop the income generating side to ensure long-term
viability, and to continue to work with partners, such as the Tees Valley Tourism
Partnership, in promoting Hartlepool.
Tall Ships 2010 at Hartlepool
Being chosen as the finishing port for Tall Ships 2010 is a major coup for Hartlepool,
and will be an undoubted income generator for Hartlepool, Tees Valley and the
Region. During Tall Ships 2005, Hartlepool was a stop-over for eight of the big Class
A tall ships and a number of the smaller vessels, some berthed in the deep-water
dock, some in the marina area. As a result of the very positive experience and
perception of this event, the bid to host the event in 2010 was submitted and was
successful.
By 2010 the infrastructure will be much further developed and Hartlepool aims to
deliver at the same standard they did for the smaller event in 2005, but scaled up to
host the full fleet. The event will be a really big impetus to infrastructure development.
Hartlepool see an advantage over Tyneside in that Tall Ships on the Tyne was
necessarily a ribbon development along the quaysides, whereas the layout of the
Hartlepool docks and marinas presents the opportunity for a multi-faceted event over
a large but homogenous area.
Is there a lesson for the region here? Bryn Hughes of the HMS Trincomalee Trust
thinks that the answer is emphatically yes! Hartlepool is already linking up with the
various venues involved in the Captain Cook Tourism Association, and down the
coast with the ‘Yorkshire Forward’ initiative (tourism is no respecter of local authority
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boundaries) and the significant tourist trade of Whitby. The 2010 event will involve
not just Hartlepool but other towns in the region.
Hartlepool’s message is that the region needs to build more links. Trincomalee’s
visitor figures show they already have more visitors coming from the south than from
the north. Maritime Heritage is potentially such a strong area that it should be what
we are looking to develop more than anything else, and more developments should
not be seen as competition. Regionally, maritime attractions can link up to form a
bigger attraction that is greater than the sum of its parts.
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Tall Ships and Small Ships
The Tall Ships visit to Newcastle in July 2005 was a success surpassing even the
hopes of the organisers. The numbers of Class A ships, the big square-riggers,
greatly exceeded those that came to the Tyne at the time of the last Tall Ships visit in
1993, and probably for the first time in nearly a century the quaysides on both sides
of the river were packed with ocean going sailing vessels, the skyline a veritable
forest of masts and spars and the quayside thronged with polyglot ships’ crews from
a score of nations, Scandinavians and Americans, Russians, Dutch, Polish and
Portuguese, and even crews from Indonesia and Oman.
An estimated 1.5 million people visited the Newcastle Gateshead Quayside during
the event (over 25% of them from outside the region), and visitor expenditure has
been estimated at a staggering £40 – 50 million during the three-day period.
Economic benefits included substantial increases in tourist room occupancy and
greatly increased visitor numbers at venues such as Baltic and the Sage during the
week of the ships’ visit.
And what did all the people come for? Whilst they may or may not have enjoyed the
music events, comedy and street theatre, and everybody liked the fireworks, this was
not why they came. They came to see the ships – have no doubt about that. The
Journal and Chronicle that week were full of interviews with visitors and local people
all saying much the same things, here are just five examples from many:
“The city has never looked better, it is absolutely spectacular. The ships look
amazing and it is a great reminder of the North East’s shipbuilding heritage”.
“We were just thinking, 100 years ago, maybe less, there would be hundreds of these
anchored waiting to come in … I think it’s a sign that the whole area, from Newcastle
down to the coast, is improving all the time”
“It’s like looking back in the old days and seeing what it was like hundreds of years
ago”
“It’s got a great atmosphere and the ships themselves are fabulous. This makes you
proud to be here and proud to call Newcastle home.”
“I was born here, it’s part of my heritage. It’s something inside you that makes you
want to see them.”
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What we can learn from this is that people have a genuine interest in and love for the
ships, and that this is very much connected with a love of heritage and feelings of
local pride.
What was also apparent is that during the week of the actual event there was very
little on the Quayside, where visitors were going to find it, with any genuine heritage
content. This has been highlighted in several reports on the event such as the Wood
Holmes Group Report commissioned by the NewcastleGateshead Initiative, for which
1,300 visitors were interviewed. There was little heritage input at the Tyneside event
location itself, despite the fact that numerous SeaBritain North East 2005 events
were organised throughout the region over the summer, to coincide with the Tall
Ships visits. This was an opportunity to engage with an inspired and enthusiastic
audience for maritime heritage, and it was an opportunity missed. Where were the
exhibitions from the archives and museums, where were the boatbuilders and
craftsmen and those dedicated to preserving traditional skills? Where were the oral
history projects, the local history groups, the maritime artists and writers, the
genealogists, the historians with their databases and the historic re-enactment
enthusiasts? Wherever they were, they were not much in evidence on the Quayside,
where they needed to be, where the 1.5 million visitors were.
How can the enthusiasm for the Tall Ships become something more than an
occasional boost that happens for a few days every few years? There are no
seagoing tall ships based in the North East, unless we count the two 70 ft steel
ketches, the Hartlepool Renaissance of the Faramir Trust based in Hartlepool, and
the Swan Hunter built James Cook of the Ocean Youth Trust, now based in Whitby
but a regular visitor to ports from Hartlepool up to Tweedmouth. These boats do
great work with young people but they are essentially big yachts, rather than tall
ships. It is the big ships, the old-fashioned ships, the big ocean-going square-riggers
that inspire the public, as well as giving crews a reasonably authentic experience of
traditional sailing ship skills and life. How much one single, large, sail training ship
based in the region, or perhaps a few such ships, would contribute to maritime
heritage and to the heritage economy is open to question, but the question is an
interesting one and worth asking. What is certain is that most of these big ships find it
very hard to pay their way in sail training. Harbour dues and berthing charges are a
continual drain on their meagre resources. Small ports such as Blyth or Seaham
which see a future in engaging with their heritage might think about attracting tall
ships on a regular basis as part of their strategy, and might consider giving them
favourable terms.
Those of the region’s local authorities that are keen on maritime heritage (and there
are one or two) might then consider some incentive such as a bursary scheme to
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enable people of all ages to sail the tall ships. The expenditure would be relatively
modest (especially if the Heritage Lottery Fund could become involved). The payback
would be in building links between the ships and the community, and in building up a
new and dedicated cadre of deep-water sailors committed to keeping the heritage
alive.
The Norwegian full-rigged ship Sorlandet (built 1927) with an
international crew, in mid-ocean, bound for Newcastle, July 2005
“He spoke of landsmen ‘pent up in lathe and plaster, tied to counters, nailed to benches,
clinched to desks, how they must get just as nigh to water as they possibly can without falling
in. And there they stand.’ For us, we’ve traded safety to hear the Lorelei sing.
Herman Melville / William Least Heat-Moon
HMS Trincomalee at Hartlepool is an example of how even one single historic vessel
can be a considerable public attraction. Over 50,000 people paid to visit the ship in
2005, 43% of these from outside the region, and she will have been instrumental in
attracting some of the 72,000 who visited the Hartlepool Historic Quay and the
96,000 to the adjoining free Museum. Some seagoing tall ships which are replicas of
historic vessels seek to pay their way by acting as museums when in port, with all
kinds of historic re-creations and interpretation on board. Examples are the Grand
Turk, a replica warship of the Napoleonic era, and the Irish-based barque Jeannie
Johnston, a faithful replica of a wooden emigrant ship or ‘famine ship’. The port of
Whitby, just outside the North East region, has picked up on this idea and hosted
both the Grand Turk and the much-travelled faithful wooden replica of Cook’s
Endeavour (now returned to Australia) as successful tourist attractions over the
winter months.
There is a history of failed attempts to make a restored historic vessel the
centrepiece of some kind of a maritime heritage attraction in Tyne and Wear.
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Whether anyone will ever have the courage and vision to make such a thing happen,
we do not know. What we do know is that millions of people are interested in seeing
the Tall Ships, and that Hartlepool is to be congratulated on the tremendous
achievement of attracting the fleet to the region again for the 2010 event. This time,
when they come, we need to make sure that opportunities are not missed again and
the event can become part of a genuine showcase and celebration of the whole
region’s maritime history and heritage.
Whilst there is a shortage of tall ships and large historic vessels in the region, there is
a wealth of traditional small boats.
Maritime historian and writer, Adrian Osler, has said “If you want to see a medieval
boat, I will show you one, sitting on the shore at Blyth” or, he might have added,
Seahouses, Beadnell, Boulmer, Newbiggin, Cullercoats, Sunderland, Redcar,
Saltburn, Skinningrove, Staithes or wherever. A coble. The traditional little North East
inshore fishing boats that used to be seen in thousands, all along the coast, and of
which a few hundred survive, many of those still working for a living, “A cultural
artefact that has changed minimally, far less than the difference between a medieval
cottage and an eighteenth century town house.”
Stuart Moreland, co-ordinator of the Tyne to Tweed Group of the Coble and Keelboat
Society explains, “A direct descendant of the craft that traded and raided these
shores some 1,000 or so years ago … it has evolved from the North European boat
building tradition but shaped by its purpose and essentially its environment – the
moody and sometimes unforgiving North Sea. That same tradition gave rise to many
other craft such as the Foy boat, the Tyne Keel, Pilot boats, the Lifeboat, Herring
Drifters, Collier Brigs, Greenland Whalers. These are all of interest to the members of
the Coble and Keelboat Society”.
The Society, formed in 1987 to be a focal point for all those interested in the
traditional working boats of the North East, is one of the strongest maritime heritage
groups in the region. Members’ interests and activities include rescuing and restoring
traditional craft, demonstrating craft at events such as harbour days and lifeboat
days, research, writing and publishing, collecting memories and raising awareness of
the coastal communities and their contribution to the region’s heritage.
Until recently almost every fishing village between Whitby and the Scottish border
had its own boat builders and craftsmen, capable of building some of these traditional
wooden boats, or at least repairing them, with knowledge and skills handed down
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through the generations. Few such craftsmen now remain, perhaps only a handful
along the whole coast.
To capture the skills and knowledge of the region’s traditional boat builders before
they are lost, and to carry them on in practical form, is seen as a priority by many,
including members of the Coble and Keelboat Society, curators at Tyne and Wear
Museums, local writers and historians, and the men who still take the cobles to sea mainly now potting for crabs and lobsters - to make their living. There are a number
of aspirations for some kind of wooden boat building project, or preferably a
permanent wooden-boat building workshop, academy and education programme to
be established in the region.
Adrian Osler sees wooden boat building as something that also has terrific outreach
potential. He cites the example of the ‘Atlantic Challenge’, an international project in
which diverse community organisations build replicas of eighteenth century wooden
sailing gigs to a standard pattern and race them. “Put the money into something for
kids to go to sea in. Involve young people through practical experience of the sea in a
teaching environment that is not just an exercise in adventure training but is oriented
towards tradition.” Building the Atlantic Challenge boats, the kind of vessel that used
to be built in Shields as naval cutters, could be used by community organisations as
an exercise in developing not only boat building skills but management skills,
professional skills and a social agenda. The boats are relatively inexpensive to build,
and unlike tall ships are cheap to keep and maintain, but sailing them needs large
crews, two dozen to a boat. “Virtually every kid in Sunderland could go to sea if you
had three of those boats, you don’t need huge expensive boats.”
Tyne and Wear Museums have been talking about the possibility of building a replica
Roman boat at Arbeia or Segedunum – there is a site believed to be a possible
Roman wreck at Herd Sands, just off the Groyne at South Shields - and this project
could combine maritime heritage and experimental archaeology.
A young Antrim boat builder, Alex Finnegan, now living and working in the Ouseburn
Valley has a number of fledgling community enterprise projects combining traditional
boats with theatre and education. Currently working on a ‘Puppet Ship” project, his
dream is a project he calls “Black Snow”, to build and sail a replica North East Collier
Brig (or Snow).
Adrian Osler suggests it would be helpful to convene a one-day conference now, if
funding could be found, to bring together all those interested in these various ideas.
Enthusiasts, practitioners, heritage organisations and funding agencies could meet
and talk and develop the networks and partnerships that could make sure some of
the ideas become realities before it is too late and the skills and knowledge are lost.
Amongst organisations supportive of this idea is the recently-formed North East
Maritime Trust (NEMT). This new organisation has drawn together enthusiasts from
the Coble and Keelboat Society, from Sunderland Maritime Heritage and other
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groups. With the help of the Barbour Trust and South Tyneside Council, who have
leased them a workshop on the riverside at Wapping Street, South Shields, they aim
to encourage recognition of maritime heritage in the region by the preservation of
traditional vessels, the provision of workshops and building up a skills base.
The first project underway in their new premises is the restoration by Trust volunteers
of the former RNLI Lifeboat Henry Frederick Swan, which was built in 1914 and
served as Tynemouth Lifeboat until the 1940s. The Trust’s workshop is next door to
the slipway of boat builder Fred Crowell, probably the last builder of wooden boats
working on the Tyne. Fred is helping the Trust with advice and guidance on the
restoration of the vessel. Fred has previously been lending his skills to the restoration
of the former Seahouses fishing boat Rachel Douglas, owned by dedicated
enthusiast Peter Weightman, chairman of the Coble and Keelboat Society, who has
restored several fishing cobles and is a founder member of the Trust.
The enthusiasts of the North East Maritime Trust believe that the new Trust can give
a boost to all those scattered individuals and groups up and down the coast working
to rescue and restore all kinds of small historic vessels.
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Sunderland’s Maritime Heritage
There is a ship, a derelict hulk really, but still magnificent, the remains of a once great
and graceful clipper ship, lying on a slipway at Irvine, near Kilmarnock. She is
waiting for the word to be given for her to be broken up.
This ship is the City of Adelaide, built by William Pile in Sunderland in 1864, on the
site where the National Glass Centre is now. The ship is of ‘composite’ construction,
with iron frames and wooden planking, a transitional phase between wooden and iron
shipbuilding. Only three such ships survive in the world, one of the others being the
Cutty Sark, a contemporary and very similar ship to the City of Adelaide (the third
such ship is now just a bare iron skeleton, wrecked and rusting on a beach in
Patagonia).
Scottish Maritime Museum / World Ships Trust
The City of Adelaide, 1864
“They mark our passage as a race of men, Earth shall not see such ships as these
again.”
Masefield
This ship was no workaday Wearside collier but a graceful, fast, prestige vessel. With
an overall length of 244 feet and height to topmast of 144 feet, she was built to carry
not only 1500 tons of cargo but up to 300 passengers for the Australia trade. Many
South Australians today can trace their emigrant ancestors back to this ship. To get
an idea of how she looked in her prime you can see a model of another famous
composite Wearside ship in the Australian trade, the beautiful Torrens, in Sunderland
Museum’s ‘Launched on Wearside’ gallery. It was whilst serving as first mate on the
Torrens from 1891-1893 that Joseph Conrad wrote his first novel ‘Almayer’s Folly,
and met one of the passengers, John Galsworthy, who encouraged him to become a
professional writer.
The City of Adelaide’s long and illustrious sailing career and subsequent adventures
are well documented, including serving as an anti-aircraft gun platform in the Blitz,
but to cut a long story short she ended up after World War II, renamed the ‘Carrick’,
moored on the Clyde, serving as a clubhouse for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
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In 1989 the City of Adelaide was given Category A Listed Building status and in 1990
passed to a maritime trust, sank and was refloated, and ended up in 1992 at the
Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine. The Museum has undertaken a great deal of
research on the vessel and expensive survey work but found itself unable to continue
to support her financially, indeed the expense of maintaining the ship has threatened
to ruin the Museum and force its closure. In the year 2000 the Museum, with regret,
applied for the vessel to be de-listed so she could be broken up.
The City of Adelaide is one of only 46 vessels in the UK’s Core Collection of
historically important ships designated by the National Historic Ships Committee. She
is not only the sole surviving ship built by the great Sunderland builder William Pile,
she is the only survivor of the vast number of sailing ships built on Wearside in the
19th century.
In response to the Scottish Maritime Museum’s application to have the ship broken
up, there was widespread concern and the decision was deferred. In Sunderland the
charity Sunderland Maritime Heritage was formed to campaign for the ship to be
returned to Sunderland as the centrepiece of a maritime heritage centre
commemorating the city’s 600-year tradition of shipbuilding.
Scottish Maritime Museum
The City of Adelaide at Irvine, 2005
“ … this ship has survived three sinkings and three attempts to have her broken up.
We believe that she should come home, before she gets herself into any more
trouble!’
Sunderland Maritime Heritage
“It isn’t going to happen”
Keeper of Maritime History, Tyne & Wear Museums
Many people have thought that the old Austin & Pickersgill graving dock just below
the Wear Bridge, consolidated as part of the clean-up of the site since the yard
closed but still lying empty and available, would be an ideal position for a restored
vessel, within a stone’s throw of the place of her birth and in a prime site visible as a
symbol of heritage and regeneration. And with plenty of parking.
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The problem is that the ship, now over 140 years old, is in very poor condition
indeed, and even to move her, let alone restore her, would be a very expensive
undertaking. But there are reasons why this expense might have been overestimated.
However, apart from campaigning and lobbying Sunderland City Council, the
Sunderland Group was not in any financial position to act over the ship and another
player emerged as a possible saviour.
In 2003 a Midlands businessman Mike Edwards, passionate about historic ships,
commissioned a survey and feasibility study at his own expense to see if the ship
could be restored to passenger-carrying sailing condition, and conforming to modern
safety standards, “without loss of historic integrity”. This study produced two muchquoted conclusions, firstly that it would cost £10 million (which as many people have
commented is more than building a copy from new would cost) and secondly that the
restoration and alterations required would be so extensive that the ship would be little
more than a reproduction. As it was Mike Edwards’ dream to have a genuine historic
ship in sailing condition, he regretfully withdrew his interest, but his generous
intervention had delayed the destruction of the ship and probably saved the Scottish
Maritime Museum from ruin.
The Museum had by this time received expressions of interest both from Sunderland
and from Adelaide, Australia, in acquiring the ship for a static museum display, but
since neither has come forward with firm proposals including funding, the Museum
has again applied for de-listing, which is to be decided by Ayrshire County Council in
August 2006, and if granted the ship will shortly undergo what is euphemistically
called “recorded deconstruction”, i.e. it will be scrapped.
Sunderland City Council, having looked at the potentially huge costs involved, have
concluded that it would not be economically viable for them to take this project
forward. Tyne and Wear Museums, who would probably have to be a potential
partner in any rescue, take a similar view. The Regional Office of the Heritage Lottery
Fund are aware of the situation regarding the ship, but are similarly deterred by the
potential cost which would preclude support for other projects and in any case would
only be able to become involved if a partnership such as Tyne and Wear Museums
and the City of Sunderland were committed to it.
This all has an air of inevitability about it, but does it have to end like this? It really
does beggar belief that a region which for a century supplied the whole world with
ships, ships which built empires, industrialised the world and changed the course of
world history, cannot collectively summon either the resources or the will to save a
single one of their great ships.
The Scottish Maritime Museum have told us that although the survey commissioned
by Mike Edwards concluded that even converting the ship as a stationary museum
could cost as much as £10 million, there was another report made which concluded
that the ship could be cut into six or eight parts and transported to a new location for
display (or whatever) for some £650,000. Does that present a possible lifeline?
111
Meanwhile, the Sunderland Maritime Heritage Group has broadened its perspective
and is seeking to achieve the aims of preserving and promoting the city’s shipbuilding
heritage with various other projects.
o
The Group have been leased premises in Church Street by the City Council
where they are undertaking a number of restoration and boat building
projects, and from where they run an educational programme.
o
They are building a scaled-down replica of the 74-gun ship of the line HMS
Venerable on which Sunderland hero Jack Crawford did heroic deeds at the
Battle of Camperdown in 1797.
o
They have two boats under restoration, a 32-foot naval cutter and a ‘Sheltie’
fishing boat, and also have a preserved foy coble, the ‘Little Lady’.
o
It is their aim to purchase and restore the MV Willdora, veteran of the Dunkirk
evacuation, currently lying in Sunderland South Docks (Hudson Dock).
o
They intend to purchase and return to Sunderland the Lightship 72, veteran of
D-Day, built 1903 at Crowns Shipyard and at present lying at Swansea.
112
o
They offer training in traditional boat building to anyone with an interest in the
traditional skills.
o
They continue to lobby Sunderland City Council for the establishment of a
proper Maritime Museum in Sunderland to preserve and promote the City’s
shipbuilding heritage.
Recognising that there is “significant support and desire for a Maritime / Heritage
Centre through local community and voluntary groups”, Sunderland City Council
have engaged consultants Lord Planning & Management, beginning work in
November 2005, to “explore the potential and demand for such a facility based on the
City’s maritime heritage incorporating the view from a local, regional and national
perspective.”
The consultant has been asked address these issues (the consultant’s brief is
paraphrased here for brevity):
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Potential and viability of a major visitor attraction
Site options and potential sites
Demand and potential audience
Assessment of content and current collections available
Educational opportunities including traditional skills and new technologies
Current regional provision and potential impact on other projects and venues
All potential methods of delivery including virtual / digitisation
Funding options and audit
Sustainability
Learning and skills development opportunities
113
114
Maritime Heritage and Tourism
The 2005 Ove Arup report ‘Economic, Social and Cultural Impact Assessment of
Heritage in the North East’, for the North East Historic Environment Forum has
looked in detail at the relationships between heritage, tourism and the local and
regional economy, so there is not a requirement to reiterate that work here.
The table below, based on 2004 data supplied by One North East, shows the visitor
figures for heritage venues with maritime heritage collections or connections. The
figures are arranged by highest first.
These figures will represent a combination of tourism, leisure use by the local
community and educational and school visits.
They should be regarded as a springboard from which leisure and tourism can be
launched if the region’s maritime heritage is to be developed to its full potential.
There is little hard data available on the influence of maritime heritage in attracting
tourism from outside the region. The HMS Trincomalee record that 43% of their
visitors (excluding special parties, weddings etc.) come from outside the region, and
the Wood Holmes Group Report for the NewcastleGateshead Initiative on Tall Ships
2005 suggested that about 16% of the 1.5 people million estimated to have visited
the event (i.e. about 240,000 people) were from outside the region.
In Whitehaven, Cumbria, where there is very small local population compared to
Tyneside, a two-day Maritime Festival in June 2005 at which the principal attraction
was just four of the smaller tall ships is reported to have attracted 250,000 visitors,
including visitors from the North East, Scotland, Manchester and Merseyside. This
biannual event is recognised as having a great impact on the economy of the town.
All figures except the Tall Ships are for 2004. Those marked # are estimates.
Tall Ships visit to Newcastle Gateshead Quayside 2005
Discovery Museum
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
Bamburgh Castle
Museum of Hartlepool
Dorman Museum
Lindisfarne Castle
Hartlepool Historic Quay
Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths & Museum
Dunstanburgh Castle
Billy Shiels Farne Island Boat Trips
Farne Islands
Tynemouth Priory & Castle
Souter Lighthouse
Berwick-upon-Tweed Barracks
Zetland Lifeboat Museum
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House Museum
115
1,500,000 #
440,968
320,628
178,849
123,341
96,611
89,460
72,892
72,348
56,105
46,091
43,851
35,000 #
31,788
26,594
25,693
15,431
3,692
2,100 #
116
Groups and organisations with an active interest in North East maritime
heritage
Alnmouth Local History Society
Bamburgh Research Project
Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum
Berwick Borough Museum
Berwick-upon-Tweed Civic Society
Berwick-upon-Tweed Preservation Trust
Berwick-upon-Tweed Record Office
Blyth Links Conservation Group
Blyth Local History Society
Blyth Local Studies Group
Blyth Riverside Regeneration
Blyth Valley Borough Council, Cultural Services
Blyth Valley Heritage Network
Castlegate Quay Heritage Project (Stockton)
CATFISH Community Action Team for the Fish Quay
Cleveland Industrial Archaeology Society
Cleveland and Teesside Local History Society
Cleveland Divers
Coble and Keelboat Society, Tyne to Tweed Group
Coquet Shorebase Trust
Craster Community Development Trust
Craster Living History
Discovery Museum
Dorman Museum, Middlesbrough
Dove Marine Laboratory
Durham Heritage Coast Partnership
English Heritage
Faramir Trust
Fortress Study Group (North East)
Friends of Berwick and District Museum and Archives
Friends of the Doxford Engines
Friends of the Leas
Friends of Northumberland Archives
Friends of St. Mary’s Island
Friends of North Dock Seaham (FONDS) / Seaham Environmental Association
Friends of Sunderland Old Parish Church, The Rector Gray Society
Hartlepool Libraries
Hartlepool Maritime Experience
Heritage Lottery Fund, North East Region
Heugh Gun Battery Memorial Society
Heugh Gun Battery Trust
H M Bark Endeavour, Stockton
HMS Trincomalee Trust
Holy Island Development Trust
Living History North East
Kirkleatham Museum
MAL North East
Marine Archaeology Project, N. Tyneside
Memory Net
Middlesbrough Libraries
Monkwearmouth Local History Group
117
National Trust
Nautical Archaeology Society North-East Region
Newbiggin Heritage Association
Newcastle City Libraries, Local Studies
Newcastle Motor Boat Club
North East Maritime Archaeology Forum
North East Maritime Trust
North Sea Sustainable Future Group
North Shields Fishermen’s Mission
North Shields Library Club
North Tyneside Libraries
Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership
Northumberland County Council, Archaeology
Northumberland Record Office
Northumberland Sailing School, Blyth
Ocean Youth Trust North East
Old Parish of Bamburgh Local History Archive
One North East
Ouseburn Heritage Group
Puppet Ship / Tyne Puppet Barge / Black Snow
Redcar & Cleveland Libraries
RNLI Grace Darling Museum
RNLI Zetland Lifeboat Museum
Royal Fleet Auxiliary Association, Bellingham
Royal Northumberland Yacht Club
Saltburn Smugglers Heritage Centre
Seaham Harbour Boat Club
South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade
Seaton Sluice and Old Hartley Local History Society
Souter Lighthouse
South Hylton Local History Society
South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
South Tyneside College
Southwick History & Preservation Society
Spittal Improvement Trust
Stockton Libraries
“Story of Seaham” Heritage Group.
Sunderland Local History Forum
Sunderland Local Studies Library
Sunderland Maritime Heritage
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
Sunderland Volunteer Life Brigade
Tees Archaeology
Teesside Archaeological Society
Teesside Archives
Trinity House, Newcastle
Tyne & Wear Archaeology
Tyne and Wear Archives Service
Tyne Rivers Trust
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
Victoria Group, North Dock, Seaham Harbour
Victoria Tunnel group
World Ship Society, Teesside Branch
World Ship Society, Tyneside Branch
118
Bibliography and Source Documents
Crocket, Margaret and Foster, Janet (Archive Skills Consultancy),
Report on the Access to Shipbuilding Collections in North East England (ARK)
Project, Archive Skills Consultancy, October 2005
Blyth Riverside Regeneration
Blyth Maritime Festival 2005
Building a Bantry Bay Gig in Marine Life and Tradition, vol.29, Winter 2005
City of Sunderland
Feasibility Study for Potential Sunderland Maritime Heritage Centre: Tender for
Project Development. City of Sunderland, Community and Cultural Services
Directorate, September 2005
Conn, Norman
Seaham, North Dock: A Community Perspective, 2006
Dobson, Henry G
From Blyth to Berwick and back, Part 1. Henry Dobson, 2002
Durham Heritage Coast Partnership
Durham Heritage Coast: Management Plan 2005-2010, 2005
English Heritage
Coastal Defence and the Historic Environment: English Heritage Guidance, 2003
English Heritage
Heritage Counts: The State of the North East’s Historic Environment, 2005
English Heritage
Taking to the Water – English Heritage’s Initial Policy for the Management of
Maritime Archaeology in England
FISHcast Community Character Statement. North Shields: The New Quay and the
Fish Quay Conservation Areas, 2005
Gale, Alison
Catching the Tide: The Status and Future of Maritime Collections in North East
Museums, North of England Museums Service, 1992
Green, Gary
The Home Front, Teesside defences during World War II, Tees Archaeology, 2006
Grundy, John, et.al.
The Buildings of England: Northumberland, Penguin Books, 1992
Hardie, Caroline and Rushton, Sara
The Tides of Time: Archaeology on the Northumberland Coast, Northumberland
County Council, 2nd edition, 2004
Linsley, Stafford
Ports and Harbours of Northumberland, Tempus, 2005
119
Lundy, Derek
The Way of a Ship, Vintage, 2003
National Trust
The Black Beaches of the Durham Coast, National Trust, n.d.
Newcastle University Library, Special Collections
Maritime Heritage in the North East, University of Newcastle, [2006]
North East Regional Museums Hub
SeaBritain North East 2005: Evaluation Report, 2006
Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Coastal Views, Newsletter of the Northumberland Coast AONB, Issue 5, Spring 2006
Exploring the Historic Buildings of the Northumberland Coast AONB, 2006
Management Plan 2004-2009
Ove Arup & Partners Ltd.
Economic, Social and Cultural Impact Assessment of Heritage in the North East,
Final Report, February 2005, North East Historic Environment Forum
Roberts, Paul & Trow, Stephen
Taking to the Water: English Heritage’s Initial Policy for the Management of Maritime
Archaeology in England, English Heritage, 2002
120
People interviewed for this survey
Thanks are due to the following who generously gave their time to supply
information or give their views to this survey
Ailsa Anderson, Culture Manager, One North East
Ian Ayris, Tyne and Wear Specialist Conservation Team
Linda Bankier, Archivist, Northumberland Record Office, Berwick
Keith Bartlett, Regional Director, Heritage Lottery Fund
Harry Beamish, National Trust Archaeologist
Naomi Beeley, Hartlepool Learning & Access Officer / acting Museums Officer
Niall Benson, Durham Heritage Coast Officer
Ian Buxton, Visiting Professor, School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle
University
Tom Cadwallender, Northumberland Coat AONB Partnership
Carol Cardinal, Economic Regeneration Project Manager, South Tyneside Council
Norman Conn, Friends of Seaham North Dock / Seaham Environmental Association
Nick Dolan, National Trust, Souter
Alex Finnegan, Project Manager, Tyne Puppet Ship
Chris Green, Curator, Berwick Borough Museum
Gary Green, Tees Archaeology / Nautical Archaeology Society
Nicola Green, English Heritage
Bill Griffiths, Manager, North East Museums Hub
Bryn Hughes, General Manager, HMS Trincomalee Trust
Jane Hall, Assistant Head of Culture & Tourism, Libraries, Heritage & Events, City
of Sunderland
John Hume, Strategy & Implementation Manager, North Tyneside Council
Alan Luscombe, Managing Director, Victoria Group, Seaham Harbour
Stuart Morland, Coble and Keelboat Society
Claire Munroe, Marketing Officer for the Hartlepool Maritime Experience
Adrian Osler, maritime writer, former curator and HLF Regional Committee member
Katrina Porteous, community writer
Liz Rees, Chief Archivist, Tyne and Wear Archives
Mark Robinson, Cultural Development Officer, Arts, Heritage and Tourism, Blyth
Valley Borough Council
Peter Rogers, Historic Buildings Officer, Northumberland County Council
Anna Siddall, Senior Development Officer, MLA North East
Joanne Stockill, Dove Marine Laboratory
Iain Watson, Tyne and Wear Museums
Peter Weightman, North East Maritime Trust
Ian Whitehead, Keeper of Maritime History, Tyne and Wear Museums
121
122

The Maritime Heritage of the North East 2006

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