Newcastle upon Tyne

City of Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle
Geography
Status:	Metropolitan borough, City (1882)
Region:	North East England
Ceremonial County:	Tyne and Wear
Traditional County:	Northumberland
Area: - Total	Ranked 229th 113.44 km²
Admin. HQ:	Newcastle upon Tyne
ONS code:	00CJ
Demographics
Population: - Total () - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	93.1% White 4.4% S.Asian
Politics
Arms of Newcastle upon Tyne City Council Newcastle upon Tyne City Council http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	Nick Brown, David Clelland, Jim Cousins, Doug Henderson

For other places named "Newcastle" or "New Castle", see Newcastle (disambiguation).Newcastle upon Tyne, often shortened to Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, in North East England. This northernmost city in England was founded in Roman times under the name Pons Aelius, with the current name being adopted from 1080 onwards.

The city is the 20th most populous in England and the Tyneside conurbation is the 5th most populous conurbation in England, and as such Newcastle is one of England's core cities.

Technically, people from Newcastle are Novocastrians (a Latin term which can equally be applied to residents of any place called Newcastle), although the term Geordie is now more commonly used.

History

Early development

Newcastle, known at the time as "Pons Aelius" was founded by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, whose Wall is still visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road. The course of the "Roman Wall" can also be traced eastwards to Wallsend (Segedunum).
After the Roman withdrawal from Britain, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and was known throughout this period as Monkchester. After a series of conflicts with the Danes and the devastation north of the River Tyne inflicted by Odo after the 1080 rebellion against the Normans, Monkchester was all but destroyed. Because of its strategic position, Robert Curthose, son of the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle there in 1080 and the town was henceforth known as Novum Castellum or Newcastle.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress. A 25 foot high stone wall was built around the town to defend it from invaders during the Border war against Scotland. The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle in 1174, and Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town. Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century and around this time became a county corporate.

King Charles bestowed upon Newcastle the East of England coal trading rights. This monopoly helped Newcastle prosper, but it had its impact on the growth of near-neighbours Gateshead and Sunderland, causing a North of Tyne/South of Tyne and a Tyne-Wear rivalry that still exists. During the English Civil War, Newcastle supported the king and in 1644 was stormed ('with roaring drummes') by Cromwell's Scots allies, based in pro-Parliament Sunderland. The grateful King bestowed the motto "Fortiter Defendit Triumphans" ("Triumphing by a brave defence") upon the town. Ironically, Charles was imprisoned in Newcastle by the Scots in 1646-7.

For a short time in the 17th century, Newcastle exported large quantities of urine down the coast to Ravenscar, North Yorkshire, to be used in the production of alum (a dye fixative) for the textile industry [1]. The urine was collected from public urinals or barrels in the city and it has been suggested that this may be the origin of the popular (though mildly offensive) English phrase "taking the piss".

In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century. Newcastle also became the greatest glass producer in the world. Newcastle's development as a major city, however, owed most to its central role in the export of coal.The phrase taking coals to Newcastle was first recorded in 1538. In the nineteenth century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the development of Safety lamps, Stephenson's Rocket, Lord Armstrong's artillery, Joseph Swan's electric light bulbs, and Charles Parsons' invention of the steam turbine, which led to the revolution of marine propulsion and the production of cheap electricity.

Heavy industries in Newcastle declined in the second half of the twentieth century; office and retail employment are now the city's staples.

Urban development

Looking through Newcastle's bridges

Jesmond Dene ca. 1900.

View of the Millennium Bridge at night from the Newcastle side

Chinatown Arch and St. James' Park

Bridges over the Tyne

Notable architecture

The city has an extensive neoclassical centre, largely developed in the 1830s by Richard Grainger and John Dobson, and recently extensively restored. Grey Street, which curves down from Grey's Monument towards the valley of the River Tyne, is often cited (A favourite of John Betjeman, as well as being voted in a survey by BBC Radio 4 listeners) as England's finest street. A portion of Grainger Town was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Eldon Square shopping centre. The erroneous image of Newcastle as a grey, aesthetically displeasing city of the Industrial Revolution is finally disappearing. Visitors to Newcastle are often surprised by the wealth of beautiful architecture and history to be discovered in the 2000-year-old city.

Parks and open space

Immediately to the northwest of the city centre is Leazes Park, established in 1873 after a petition by 3,000 working men of the city for "ready access to some open ground for the purpose of health and recreation". In one corner of this is St James' Park, the stadium home of Newcastle United F.C. which dominates the view of the city from the south.

Another green space in Newcastle is the vast Town Moor, lying immediately north of the city centre. It is larger than Hyde Park and Hampstead Heath put together and the freemen of the city have the right to graze cattle on it. Unlike other cities where similar rights exist, they often take advantage of this, leading to the somewhat bizarre sight of cattle grazing within yards of the city's town hall or "Civic Centre". The right incidentally extends to the pitch of St James' Park, Newcastle United Football Club's ground, though this is not exercised. Honorary freemen include Bob Geldof, Nelson Mandela and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Hoppings funfair, said to be the largest travelling fair in Europe, is held here annually in June.

The wooded gorge of the Ouseburn in the east of the city is known as Jesmond Dene and forms another popular recreation area, linked by Armstrong Park and Heaton Park to the Ouseburn Valley, where the river finally reaches the River Tyne.

Recent developments

The development of the city in the 1960s and 1970s saw the demoliton of part of Graingertown as a prelude to the modernist rebuilding initiatives of T. Dan Smith, the leader of Newcastle City Council. A corruption scandal was uncovered involving Smith and John Poulson, a property developer, and both were jailed. Echoes of the scandal were revisited in the late 1990s in the BBC TV mini-series, Our Friends in the North.

The Tyne gorge between Newcastle (on the north Bank) and Gateshead (an administratively separate borough) on the south, is famous for a series of dramatic bridges, including the Tyne Bridge of 1928 and Robert Stephenson's High Level Bridge of 1849, the first road/rail bridge in the world. Large-scale regeneration has replaced former shipping premises with imposing new office developments; an innovative tilting bridge, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge was commissioned by Gateshead and has integrated the older Newcastle Quayside more closely with major cultural developments in Gateshead, including the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Norman Foster-designed Sage music centre. NewcastleGateshead Quayside is now a thriving, cosmopolitan area with an abundance of bars, restaurants and public spaces. As a tourist promotion, Newcastle and Gateshead have linked together under the banner "NewcastleGateshead", but otherwise remain separate.

Notable Newcastle housing developments include Ralph Erskine's the Byker Wall designed in the 1960s and now Grade II-listed. It is on UNESCO's list of outstanding 20th century buildings.

Newcastle's thriving Chinatown lies in the northwest of Grainger Town, centered on Stowell Street. A new Chinese Arch, or paifang, providing a landmark entrance, was handed over to the City with a ceremony in 2005.

Science city

The UK's first Biotechnology Village, the "Centre for Life" is located in the City Centre close to the Central Station. The village is the first step in the City Council's plans to transform Newcastle into a Science city [2].

Geography

Newcastle is situated in the North East of England, in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear. The city itself is located on the northern bank of the Tyne Valley at a latitude of 54.97°N and a longitude of 1.62°W.

The geology of the area is most famous for its large deposits of coal. Whilst the local bedrock consists mainly of carboniferous rocks, millstone grit and oolite are also present.

Climate

The climate in Newcastle is temperate, although significantly warmer than some other locations at a similar latitude due to the warming influence of the Gulf Stream (via the North Atlantic Drift). Being in the rain shadow of the North Pennines, it is among the driest cities in the UK. The prevailing winds are south-westerly due to the North Atlantic Current.

Law and government

Newcastle is governed using the leader and cabinet system, and the executive is currently Liberal Democrat, as they have 48 councillors against the Labour Party's 30. No other parties hold seats on the city's council. [3]

Administrative districts

Newcastle has 26 electoral wards. [4]{| width="500" | valign="top" width="250" |
* Benwell and Scotswood
* Blakelaw
* Byker
* Castle
* Dene
* Denton
* Gosforth (East and West)
* Elswick
* Fawdon
* Fenham
* Heaton (North and South)
* Jesmond (North and South)