I've had this book for some time - pretty much since it was published in 2021, in fact. It has, however, sat on my 'to read' pile for ages. It's a big one to tackle, you see, and actually rather daunting. Well, I've spent a good deal of the past week or so making my way through it; and, though I have yet to read large sections of it, I must confess that I absolutely love it. It may even be the best book on the history of Newcastle ever published.
Firstly, it's a large-format, heavily illustrated affair, that runs to in excess of 250 pages. Yes, it tells the story of the history of the city through historical maps, but it's really much, much more than that. I mean, the maps alone are utterly fabulous - a great many of which I have never seen before - but the accompanying text is superbly enlightening, and clearly very well researched.
Furthermore, it covers a far greater area than that of the city's boundaries, spreading not only into the suburbs, but also into the far corners of Tyneside as a whole - including Tynemouth and Shields, Jarrow, Gateshead, Swalwell - and includes sections on the growth and decline of all the major industries. Shipbuilding, coal transportation & waggonways, the old Crowley works, abandoned canal schemes, tunnels, bridges, waterworks, and all sorts of civic plans (both realised and abandoned) are covered. Both the text and the maps themselves are wonderful.
Perversely, it is the illustrated tales of those proposals that didn't make it beyond the planning stage that are the most interesting and thought-provoking. The remarkable road and rail ideas, the plans for canals, botanical gardens and the extraordinary prolonged arguments and counter-arguments over the city's new 'civic centre'. As well as dozens of others - all of which could have given us a very different look to the cityscape of today.
Here's a list of the contents (click on images to enlarge):
One very slight quibble. And that is the little cityscape silhouette featured on the front cover. Strangely, several of the featured buildings have nothing to do with our Newcastle. One is an outline of Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, NSW, Australia, and two of the others I have not been able to identify at all! An unfortunate oversight for what is otherwise a quite excellent and beautiful tome.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Mapping the City, by Michael Barke, Brian Robson & Anthony Champion, published by Birlinn, 2021. Published price £30, but can usually be found online a bit cheaper.
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