Favourite Newcastle Books No.2: 'Victorian Panorama'

 

Victorian Panorama: A Visit to Newcastle upon Tyne in the Reign of Queen Victoria is one of the many works on the subject of the city's history by Alan Morgan; and is, in my opinion, one of the very best of the past couple of decades. Essentially, it takes one of the classic artistic views of the town (dating to 1862) and forensically examines the fine detail of the same, section by section. A simple idea, brilliantly and thoroughly executed.

The painting itself was by John Storey, and, intriguingly, includes structures that were not built until several years after the 1862 date (we think, therefore, that he must have access to future plans, etc.). The book opens with an outline of the artist's life, and provides a factual summary of the town of the 1860s. There follows ten chapters on various areas of the town centre and its closest suburbs, as well as three on Gateshead, then a few pages on 'The Coaly Tyne'.

Each chapter is heavily illustrated, including maps aplenty, the highlights being the exploded sections of the painting itself which have been shaded and labelled to make examination and exploration foolproof - which I hope you can at least partly tell from the image below.

(click to expand)

Helpfully, the text is colour-coded, thus: "Entries within each chapter are headed in red if the street or structure has been demolished, or in blue if they can still be seen." This makes it even easier to negotiate one's way around the cityscape - quite literally if you wish - which really does bring the Newcastle of 160 years ago to life. An absolute pleasure to cast your eyes over.

A little tricky to get these days, it being quite expensive on Amazon/eBay - but do get hold of a copy if you can. Close examination of the above image reveals that I was lucky enough to secure mine from Oxfam for £1.99!

Victorian Panorama: A Visit to Newcastle upon Tyne in the Reign of Queen Victoria, by Alan Morgan, published by Tyne Bridge Publishing, 2007 (paperback, 108 pages).