North East Industries Through Time

It has been forcefully argued that if there is one place in Great Britain where an industrialised society first emerged, then that place is Whickham on Tyne, some three miles up-river from Newcastle/ Gateshead. Certainly the North East of England was one of the power houses of Britain s Industrial Revolution, thanks in no small measure to its reserves of coal, galena, and other minerals, and to its concomitant industries of shipbuilding, heavy engineering, and so on.However, signs of economic decline were evident before the nineteenth century was out. Northumberland and Durham had 373 working deep coal mines in 1913, reduced to 201 by 1949, 31 by 1978, and to none whatsoever by 2006. This book illustrates some of the changes in North East Industry over the past 100 years or so, from a coal mine site to a football stadium, a power station to a church, a blacksmith s shop to a Chinese restaurant.