By Mike Coates
In about 1225 North Shields originated on the northern side of the Tyne, where it meets the sea on a promontory called Prior’s Point.
After draining land by the Pow Burn, creating safe anchorage, the powerful Prior of Tynemouth, owner of land across Northumberland, whose rights dated back to 1092 with a charter by King Stephen, encouraged the development of a town here, obtaining revenue from exporting mainly fish and coal.
But by 1213, charters granted to Newcastle by King John for the monopoly of trade on the Tyne, led to bitter quarrels between Newcastle and North Shields.
By 1267 North Shields had grown sufficiently to create tension with Newcastle and a party of armed Burgesses, believing North Shields taking their trade was a breach of their rights, set fire to the mill and houses here, marking the start of a long history of action by Newcastle.
The town was rebuilt and by 1292 there were over 100 houses, many with their own quays, and trade so thriving that many bakers and brewers left Newcastle to settle here.
Around 1433 the town, at its largest, was flourishing. The monks bought a vessel, increasing their commercial activities, exporting fish, salt and coal and fishing boats were sailing as far as Icelandic waters.
Jealousy of North Shields trading continued and in 1510 Newcastle’s leading townsmen addressed a great number of people threatening to kill the Prior. In retaliation, about 500 people, paid by the Prior, marched to Newcastle, to murder the Mayor, aldermen and others, and destroy their ships. They rioted in Newcastle for 11 days, imprisoning many inhabitants at Tynemouth.
In 1530 Newcastle was again successful in placing trade constraints on Shields. The Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, including Tynemouth Monastery, led to the town declining and by 1564, it was deplorable with people starving.
In the mid-1600s, reformer Ralph Gardner, a prominent North Shields businessman, frustrated at the town’s decline, began challenging Newcastle’s monopoly over trade, campaigning Parliament and publishing ‘England’s Grievance Discovered’. His efforts led to imprisonment.
By 1763 with recovered trading, Shields shipowners and merchants began to build houses, creating a new town above the river, the beginning of the ‘high town’.
In 1833, almost 200 years after Gardner campaigning, a Customs House was established at Shields, then in 1848 North and South Shields were declared the independent Port of Shields.
By 1851 the harbour at Shields could accommodate 1,000 vessels and 75% of over 20,000 vessels entering the river annually didn’t proceed inland past Shields.
With the development of steam trawlers, the fishing industry was transformed and by 1890, 81 vessels, the largest fleet of steam trawlers in the world, were working out of Shields.
By the early1900s up to 200 fishing boats were landing their catches here – over 12,000 tons annually during the herring boom years, with thousands of North Shields people dependent on the fishing trade.
In 2000 only 2,361 tons of fish were landed, although Shields is the now the biggest prawn port in England.
Today, the quay where the town began 800 years, is bustling with a wide range of restaurants and bars and undergoing a major programme of regeneration.
For further information read Mike’s book “The Pow Burn NS800 edition”, available at the Old Low Light Heritage Centre.
