Newcastle upon Tyne's Post-War 'Development Plan'

(click for enlarged view)

In response to government legislation, Newcastle City Council produced and published a 'Development Plan' in June 1954. It provided a blueprint for the authority's 20-year ambitions for the city centre and its suburbs. Alongside the dozen or so pages of (admittedly very sketchy) ideas, were two large fold-out maps of the city, with bits shaded / coloured in to give us all a rough idea as to what would happen and when. Many of the plans never reached fruition, but a good deal did. 

I only know this because today I bought a copy of the booklet & plans in question from a second-hand bookshop for £15 (as you may know, I am a sucker for such offerings). As much as I'd like to share the whole thing with you, it is simply not practically possible - but above is an image from the same of the proposed new 'town hall' (civic centre), imagined well over a decade before the place was eventually opened. It is remarkably similar to the final, finished structure - though the famous circular council chamber and lantern tower which we are familiar with today are missing from the artist's impression. The civic centre itself was built during 1960-67 and formally opened in 1968.

As for an old West-Ender like me, I found it interesting to note that they also had in mind a 'Western By-pass' to skirt the suburbs much as the current trunk road does. Even as early as the 1940s/50s a ribbon of land was being reserved for this purpose ... but it wasn't actually built until 1990! When it was finally opened, it at once became the new course of the A1 (taking over from the Tyne Tunnel route).

The Physical Aspect of Northumberland in the 16th century

The following extract is taken from the 1897 book by W.W.Tomlinson entitled Life in Northumberland During the Sixteenth Century.

" A large portion of the county, especially in the central and western parts, consisted of waste ground, which is described as 'very cold, hard, and barren for the winter' (1569). The lower grounds were in several places mere bogs and swamps. Till 1857 there were 1,100 acres of marshy ground, covered in places with large pools of water, within seven miles of Newcastle. This spot - known as Prestwick Car [sic] - has been drained, and is now for the most part under cultivation. Middleton Bog, Embleton Bog, and Newham Bog have also ceased to exist within recent times. Sheldon Lough, near Corbridge, at the present day is but a name, and Grindon Lough, near Housesteads, has shrunk under the process of draining to a mere pool.

" Previous to the sixteenth century the country had been denuded very largely of its woods. Leland, the Royal Antiquary of Henry VIII, who was in Northumberland in 1538 or soon after, wrote as follows:-

In Northumberland, as I heare say, be no Forests exept Chivet Hills, where is much Brushe wood, and sum Okke. Ground over growne with Linge [?] and some with mosse. There is greate Plenty of redd Dere and Roo Bukkes ... The great wood of Cheviot, he adds, is spoyled now and crokyd old trees and scrubs remayne.

" The explanation of the disappearance of this famous wood is given by Bowes and Ellerker in their Report of 1541:

The Scottes, as well by night tyme secretly, as upon the dai tyme with a more force, do come into the said forest of Chevyott div'se tymes and steale and carrye awaie muche of the said woode, whiche ys to them a greatte proffyte for the maynte'unce of their houses and buyldinge, and a small redresse thereof can be hadd by the lawes and customes of the M'ches, wherefore we thinke yt expedient that some greatter correcc'on and punyshemente were devysed for suche as steale and take awaie the said woode.

" Sir Robert Carey, also, in a letter to Burghley, dated August 4, 1598, makes allusion to this timber-stealing which went on along the Borders: Besides their hunting, their custom is to bring in 100 men at these times, to cut and carry away wood, and they have thus clean wasted 'one of the goodlyest woodes' in the middle March.

" Leland further tells us that there was very little wood between Newcastle and Tynemouth, Newcastle and Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick. Almost none in Bamburghshire and Redesdale and along the Tweed. Between the two branches of the Tyne there was the 'Forest of Lowes', which Belted Will is said to have afterwards cut down as it harboured freebooters, and between Morpeth and Alnwick there might be seen 'good Plenty of wood in certayne Places and many Parks'. Between Newcastle and Hexham, there were woods at Benwell and Wylam, from which timber was procured for Berwick Bridge in Henry the Eighth's time, and at Bywell.

" In a survey taken in 1569 it is stated that to the Barony of Bywell belongeth a fforest of red deer well replenished with game, 6 miles E. by W. and 5 N. by S. And the ffarmes and Tenants in the said Baronies (Bywell and Bulbeck) are well planted with coppice wood for the preservation of the red deer, and in the wastes also are divers woods.

[End] 

Tales from the East End

After I'd written up my last blog post I realised that, across the city, there is an equally excellent source of historical information for the East End - well, Heaton and its immediate environs, anyway. This is the superb Heaton History Group website.

When I was putting together my recent book on the city's suburbs, articles from this organisation's website would frequently come up in Google searches. And though I always try to get to the source of historical facts before I present them to you in my books and blog posts, I have learned to trust this particular source. It is essentially a blog about historical bits and bobs relating to Heaton, but is beautifully laid out, cross-referenced and catalogued - and with articles dating back more than a decade. And most of the pieces are lengthy affairs, too, with a good scattering of illustrations and lists of sources, etc.

You can join the group, too, for a very modest £15 per annum, and there are, of course, regular talks and other events for members (and indeed paying non-members) to enjoy.

So, though I'm a 'West-Ender' by birth and upbringing, I'd like to thank the good folk at Heaton History Group for extending my knowledge of the far side of the city. Boy, what an interesting place Newcastle and its suburbs is!

Tales from the West End

As a sort of addendum to my book Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Tales from the Suburbs, I thought I'd point you in the direction of a splendid online pdf publication entitled West End Memories: 1952 And All That. If you've an interest in any of the outlying bits of Newcastle beyond, say, the Big Lamp, then you're sure to find it endlessly interesting.

As you may have gathered from my ramblings over the years, the West End is where I grew up - Denton Burn, to be exact. However, my family history in the area (Benwell, Elswick, etc.) goes back to the earliest years of my parents' lives of c.1930. The above e-booklet, therefore, which takes a look at various elements of life in this part of the world stretching back towards this era, fills in a good deal of background info for me - and for anyone else with similar interests.

It was produced in 2022 by the St James’ Heritage & Environment Group - a highly active organisation dedicated to all things West End-related. It was intended as a sort of historical social celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee - and is quite excellent. 

So do have a look at the booklet - as well as the website itself, which is SUPERB (just click on the links above). I have barely scratched the surface of the latter, and there is still so much for me to absorb. It just goes to show you that you can research and write a book on Newcastle's suburbs over a period of some several years (as I did) ... and then find that there is still so much out there to discover. Never stop learning, as they say!