Trifter

As the river Tyne winds her way seawards, she eventually settles into a wider, yet still brisk path. As she approaches the tidal stretches of her course, her waters darken and she approaches the last city in England.

Newcastle Upon Tyne.

There has been a key settlement at this point since Roman times. Pons Aelius was key part of Hadrian’s Wall that crossed the Empire’s northern frontier from Segedunum in the east to the shores of the Solway Firth in the west. Since the early days as a principal garrison on the most fortified border of the Roman Empire to the burgeoning rise of Newcastle as an arts and science hotspot today, the river and Newcastle have shared a symbiotic relationship.

For without the Tyne, there would be no city. The Tyne provided safety, communication and food from the earliest days as a human settlement. As mans’ ingenuity grew, so did his need for her. Cottage manufacture gave way to the great blight of heavy industry and the skies above Newcastle darkened with smoke belching from the great Ironworks, shipyards and collieries. Vast tonnage of coal was shipped southwards, creating the North East’s first millionaires and, consequently, one of the greatest libraries outside of London. Poisons leaked into the rushing concourse; only the great winter floods and spring tides saved the Tyne from the pollution other great rivers like the Thames suffered – although she was far from clean. As the behemoths of Tyneside slaked their thirst, she continued on her way seaward, stinking, gorged from the detritus of the Industrial Revolution, ceaseless and without voice.

Two World Wars and The Great Depression ebbed and flowed around her, yet still she held her course. She provided water to douse the fires of the Luftwaffe, berths from which great vessels of war and trade were born; a haven for the harassed convoys of the North Sea. For centuries, and without rest or reward, the Tyne provided survival for all –from the lowliest Keelman to the grandest philanthropist.

And now, in the 21st Century, she has been given a new lease of life. Cleaned up, with Salmon and Trout stocks replenished and millions spent on redevelopment she is slowly shaking off her vestments of decay. The River Tyne is slowly becoming an important focal-point in Newcastle’s rapid rise to power. After centuries of neglect, the city’s most loyal subject is being rewarded.