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Beth Chatto’s Dry Garden, Essex, England: The renowned plants-woman, Beth Chatto, turned an old gravel car park into a superb dry garden - shown in this photo. This area of Essex has average rainfall less than 20” per annum. She has chosen drought tolerant plants that put on a splendid display in the poorest of soils. Her creative planting and emphasis on 'right plant for the right place' provides inspiration and shows what can be done in a garden that is never irrigated.
Dry Gardens in England: Interest in ‘dry’ gardens has grown considerably over the past few years. Although people often view England as a ‘green and pleasant land’ with plentiful rainfall, this is not always the case. The east of the country is much, much drier than the west and in recent years much of Eastern England was subject to a ban on using hosepipes for garden irrigation. Weather patterns in the country seem to be getting more extreme and in 1996 the annual rainfall in the East Anglia region was less than that in Jerusalem or Beirut! These changes in weather patterns have stimulated gardener’s interest in growing more drought tolerant plants - which never need irrigation.
Many of the plants suited to dry gardens, such as Giant Verbascums, Perennial Grasses and Euphorbias also provide the garden with bold architectural statements giving all year round interest. When they have finished flowering many drought tolerant plants have stems and seed heads which look good and hold up well even when the first frosts arrive.
The hardiness rating of many plants also seems to be extended in dry garden conditions too. In these conditions plants seem better able to tolerate the cold winters as long as their roots don’t get waterlogged .
So, dry gardens really offer many advantages – no irrigation, some great architectural plants, a long season of interest, better hardiness rating and relatively low maintenance too. The other bonus is that plants that are happy in these conditions will often self-seed and propagate freely. With all these benefits I am sure we will be seeing many more dry gardens in the UK in the coming years!
© 2014 ukgardenphotos
Dutch decided there needed to be a little team assembled for spec ops tasks and assaults and stuff. He knew it sounded cheesy, but it had to be done, so he had Hazard create Average Company (TMP came up with the name, they all fight for a normal life). Hazard leads by rank, but has MissingPiece lead for his tactical skills.
This is the average Ugandan house. Living in a country where land prices are shooting up at insane rates, and some houses go for tens of millions, it is simply unacceptable that houses like this one continue to be the average house elsewhere in the world.
DAY 2 And the FINALE of The American Speedfest Weekend at Brands Hatch showcasing some impressive and High Powered Machinery Ready to do Battle out on Track to see who can become the Victor of each of their Respective Classes. Lets see what Happened and Who was the First to Cross the Finish line to take Victory.
Angelo American Formula 5000's-(Race 2 Results)
With A Very Fast Paced and Quick Qualifying Session Yesterday it was time for the Drivers to head out and take part in their Race to see who could achieve Victory.
In First Place and taking the Victory was (Greg Thornton) in his Chevron B24 with a Best Lap Time of 47.660 and an Average Speed of 88.84mph. An Incredible Victory for A Top Class Driver in Formula 5000 Racing.
In Second Place was (Neil Glover) in his Chevron B37 with a Lap Time of 48.128 and an Average Speed of 87.96mph. Another Class Example of How to Handle to Torque and Power Output of these V8 Monsters.
Finally In Third Place was (Mark Campfield) in his Chevron B24 with A Lap Time of 48.227 and an Average Speed of 86.31mph. Very Fast Paced and A Fantastic Effort By Mark to Stay in Tight Amongst The Leading Two Cars.
A Brilliant Display of Driving and Skill shown by the Angelo American Formula 5000's Drivers and Some Incredible Racing to Watch.
Congratulations to Greg, Neil and Mark for putting on one Hell of a Race and to all the other Drivers Racing as well.
Bernie's Sports and V8's-(Race 3 Results)
Bernie's V8'S Showcasing some of the Best V8 Machinery from the Past 30 Years. During Qualifying a Very Fierce Battle was Taking Place at the Front of the Grid but Lets See Who came out Victorious Amongst the Competitors.
In First Place was (James Plant) in his Austin Healey 106 with A Lap Time of 53.293 with an Average Speed of 79.92mph around the Indy Circuit. A fantastic British Car being Driven Hard for the Victory was a Wonderful site to be hold. An Incredible Drive by James.
In Second Place was (Simon Cripps) in his MGB V8 Roaster with A Lap Time of 53.398 and an Average Speed of 79.97mph. Incredibly Fast and Very Close to James in Terms of Pace. A Super Driver and a very Super Car to go with it.
In Third Place was (Michael Saunders) in his Ford MK1 Escort Mexico with A Lap Time of 53.280 and an Average Speed of 79.67mph. A Mighty Drive by Michael to Achieve that Third Place with some Good Battles taking place thought the Field. A Very Well Done to Michael.
A Brilliant End to The Bernie's V8's at Brands Hatch and some Super Driving from James Simon and Michael with all Three of them Being very Close to One Another Thought the Race. Congratulations on the Victories and a Very Well Done to everyone Else for also Putting on some Fantastic Battles thought the Pack.
Legends Cars Championship-(Race 6 Result)
The Little Pocket Rockets were back again for Another Day of Exciting Racing on the Indy Circuit. With Qualifying Yesterday Showing a very Packed Grid Lets See who Managed to take that All important Victory that Will Decide the Winner.
In First Place was (John Mickel) in his Legend Ford Coupe with A Lap Time of 55.997 and an Average Speed of 76.05mph. A Storming Drive by John showcasing what it Really Means to be a Legends Car Driver with his Incredible Skills and Determination Lap after Lap.
In Second Place was (Miles Rudman) in his Legend 34 Coupe with a Lap Time of 55.82 and an Average Speed of 75.98mph. A String and Very Quick Drive from Miles Keeping Pace with John and making sure he did not get away easily with that Victory. Fantastic Drive.
In Third Place was (Will Gibson) in his Ford Coupe 34 with A Lap time of 55.361 with an Average Speed of 75.97mph. An Awesome Drive from Will to Keep up with both Miles and John and to see his Car flying Around the Circuit was a Truly Spectacular site as was the rest of the field. Well Done Will.
An Awesome Day of Legends Racing showcasing a lot of High Speed Battle's Thought the Field and Some Very Competitive Racing This Year between Drivers. Good Luck in the Championship all And Keep Working Hard to Achieve Greatness this Season.
NASCAR Whelan Euro Series-(Race 2 Result-Pro)
Euro NASCAR-Pro was up Next and after putting on a Thunderous thunderous Display Yesterday in Qualifying it was time to see what Each Driver could do during the Race and who would be brave enough to make those all important overtakes to take the Victory in Euro NASCAR.
In First Place was (Loris Hezemans) in his Ford Mustang -Hendricks Motorsport) with A Lap Time of 50.145 and an Average Speed of 70.29mph. Amazing Speed and a very Tricky Circuit to Race in a Nascar Congratulations Loris on a Stunning Victory.
In Second Place was (Gianmarco Ercoli) in his Chevrolet Camaro-CAAL Racing with a Lap Time of 50.174 and An Average Speed of 70.26mph. Another Very Quick and Fantastic Drive from Gian to Grab Second Place and a Good Example of Fast Paced Car Control. Congratulations Gian.
In Third Place was (Sebastiaan Bleekemolen) in his Ford Mustang-Team Bleekemolen with A Lap Time of 50.519 and an Average Speed of 70.24mph. Fantastic to see all three drivers really going for it and pushing their machinery to it limits as well as seeing them race in such close formation during the Race. Congratulations Sebastiaan a Very well Deserved Third Place.
An Amazing Set of Victories in Euro NASCAR PRO showcasing some of he Best Drivers from Around the world competing for as Victory and the eventual Championship Win. Good Luck Everybody and Keep Racing Hard all Year Long.
Euro NASCAR 2 Series-(Race 2 Result 2)
Euro NASCAR 2 was up next and Some Young Rookies shown Yesterday In Qualifying just What They have in them to be Promoted to NASCAR Pro as well as some new faces joining the Series. After Qualifying Yesterday lets see how the Drivers Did and Who Took the Victory.
In First Place was (Tobias Dauenhauer) in his Ford Mustang-Hendricks Motorsport with A Lap Time Of 50.242 and an Average Speed of 85.46mph. Congratulations Tobias a very well controlled and Fast Race Pace from you to take the Overall Victory.
In Second Place was (Simon Pilate) in his Chevrolet Camero-DF1 Racing with a Lap Time of 50.209 and An Average Speed of 85.12mph. A Very Quick and Capable Drive from Simon showcasing some very quick Car Control at High Speed and keep the Race right up to Tobias in First Showing just how Competitive Driving one of these cars is. Congratulations Simon.
In Third Place was (Advait Deodhar) in his Ford Mustang-CAAL Racing with A Lap Time of 50.328 and an Average Speed of 85.07mph. A Mighty Drive and a Very Strong Mind seen while Watching Advait Race showing his True Potential during the Race and Keeping up well with both Second and First Placed Drivers. Congratulations Advait.
A Super End to the Day of Euro NASCAR Racing and seeing both Pro and Class 2 Races really showed just how Capable thease Cars are. Congratulations to al of the Drivers as well as the Top Three Drivers from Each Class. Good luck In the Remainder of Your Season. And Remember Go Big or Go Home.
Pick Up Truck Championship-(Race 2 Result)
Pick Up Trucks were up next and from Yesterdays High Speed Qualifying it was shaping up to be A Race that would be Fought very Fiercely Between drivers for the Victory. With Light Weight Space Frames and A Lot of Horse Power Under the Bonnet it was time to see who was the Bravest and the Fastest Around the Indy Circuit. Lets See what Happened.
In First Place was (George Turiccki) in his Pickup Truck 2000 with A Lap Time of 52.606 and an Average Speed of 63.76mph. Really Fast From George and Leaving most of the Field in the Dust with his Experience and Driving Skills behind the Wheel of His Pickup Truck. Congratulations George. A Well Deserved Victory.
In Second Place was (Allen Cooper) in his Pickup Truck 2000 with A Lap Time Of 52.808 and an Average Speed of 63.73mph. Allen Keeping very close with the Leader George thought the Race and constantly was putting pressure on him right up to the end. An Awesome Drive from Allen and a very well controlled Pickup out there. Congratulations Allen.
In Third Place was (Reece Jones) in his Pickup Truck 2000 with A Lap Time of 52.784mph and an Average Speed of 52.784mph. Incredible Drive Reece showing a Very Determined Mind and a Focus that could be seen within his Driving Ability. Congratulations Reece.
Pickup Truck Racing Showcasing some of the Best of Speedfest at Brands Hatch with The Top Three in George Allen and Reece being so close together towards the end of the Race. Congratulations to all of the other Drivers who also showed some Fantastic Fighting thought the Field. Keep Working Hard and Good luck in the Rest Of The Season.
Speedfest Silhouettes-(Race 2 Result)
The FINALE To the Weekend had to be the Mighty Fast and Quick action Paced Speedfest Silhouettes showing off some of the fastest Machinery on track with Modified Aero and very Fast Determined Drivers. During a Lightening Fast Qualifying Session Yesterday Let's see who is going to be the one taking home the victory and Tasting that Champagne at the End of The Day.
In First Place was (Ray Harris) in his Ginetta G40R with a Lap Time of 50.721 and an Average Speed of 73.71mph. A Lightening Fast Drive from Ray to take the Victory and that Ginetta was looking very Beautiful out on track indeed. Congratulations Ray.
In Second Place was (Mike Thurley) in his Ginetta G40 with A Lap Time Of 51.086 and an Average Speed of 73.57mph around the Indy Circuit. Very Fast and Right on the Heels of Ray in his much more Powerful R Variant. An Incredible Charge for Victory Mike and a Sterling Drive. Congratulations Mike.
In Third Place was (Ian Hales) in his Vauxhall Tigra with A Lap Time of 51.199 and An Average Speed of 73.45mph. A Super Effort and Drive from Ian and his Skill behind the wheel is what Really Helped put that Car into Third Place A Well Deserved Position. Congratulations Ian.
Super Silhouettes showing some very Determined and Quick Drivers out there and the Incredible Cars that they have built and Race are a true sight to be hold. Congratulations to Ray, Mike and Ian for putting on some superb Driving skills thought the Race as well as to all the other Drivers fighting it out thought the field. Good Luck in the season and Looking forward to seeing who can Take the Championship Crown.
This Brings an End to American Speedfest8 at Brands Hatch for
the 2021 Season. Another Year of Hight Speed High Action and Adrenalin Filled American Racing. Congratulations to all of the Race Winners and Participants in this Years Speedfest and I look forward to Seeing you all do Battle Again Next Year. Until then........GO BIG OR GO HOME.
Average wind speed around 20 m/s at Jutland's west coast, hours before the wind got strongest.
December 2016.
Vedersø, Denmark.
Greensboro, NC - 2/25/10
A Face to Face "social practice" event, The Soapbox Salon: Lee Walton's Search for the Most Average Bowlers
We try to keep things as simple as possible at Karess Krafters and our perfume oil is no exception. Our perfume oil is formulated in a base of nutritional coconut oil for its ability to penetrate the skin quickly without leaving a greasy after feel. Each bottle is highly scented to make your senses come to life by spreading a long lasting aroma along with good thoughts. Very economical too, with an average of 80 uses per bottle.
Fragrance: Umm! Umm! Good! This fragrance is the long awaited marriage to our famous Sugar Passion fragrance that is way beyond SEXY! This sweet unisex fragrance opens with a delightful harmony of toasted caramelized sugar and vanilla blended with woodsy notes of cedar and warm Tonka beans. The heart of the fragrance is nicely balanced with Patchouli, Licorice, French Lavender, Heliotrope and Coriander, and is freshened with crisp bergamot and mandarin on dried down notes of mandarin and anise
Average Betty does for home n' cooking what punk did for rock n' roll: she cuts the length and cranks the volume! But you don't need a mohawk to enjoy Average Betty's culinary creations. Check out www.averagebetty.com for recipes and more.
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This house appears to be a little dirty but I'm not sure if it needs a good clean or is it the paint colour they have chosen? I would also suggest painting the front door a contrasting colour so that it stands out. At the moment it looks very dark.
You can check out my curb appeal blog at www.exteriorencounters.com
he Baltimore Checkerspot is a popular butterfly that was named the Maryland state insect in 1973. The Baltimore was named for the first Lord Baltimore, whose coat of arms matched the colors on this butterfly.
The Baltimore is black, with an orange rim of spots on its outer wing, and rows of white spots on the inner wing. The adults can be seen in the summertime, basking in the sun and feeding.
They usually lay their eggs under the leaves of their host plant, found in wet meadows and marshes. Caterpillars spin a nest of webs and feed into autumn. They then overwinter in leaf litter, and in the spring continue to feed.
The Baltimore Checkerspot is disappearing in some areas due to a decline in host plants, but a welcoming garden may bring this beautiful butterfly back to your yard.
Family: Brush-footed Butterfly (Nymphalidae)
Subfamily: True Brushfoot (Nymphalinae)
Average Wingspan: 1 3/4" - 2 3/4"
Habitat: Marshes, wet areas, wooded areas
The average Great Egret measures 38-39 inches (97-100 cm) from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail. Taken at Circle B Bar Reserve near Lakeland, Florida, USA. This wetlands reserve is over a thousand acres and hosts a nice variety of wildlife, especially birds. The hiking trails are all user-friendly and take you close to the action. Anyone visiting central Florida should consider placing this reserve on their "must see" list.
an average shaped mannequin for our average shaped ladies...okay even this one is perfectly porportioned but it's a start!
size: average time: 2: 27 PM
length: 1 cm & 2 mm width: 5 mm
weather: warm, sunny, no jackets
animal activity: nothing
My bud is lime-colored, and it's started to open up. All of it's skin is green, except for 2 red-ish skins.
This graphic shows the average calcium levels, in milligrams per litre, at major river mouths for the time periods 1976 to 1990 and 1991 to 2000. The graphic also shows the changes in average calcium levels between these two time periods.
For any form of publication, please include the link to this page:
This photo has been graciously provided to be used in the GRID-Arendal resources library by: Philippe Rekacewicz, Delphine Digout, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated north of the city centre and to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city.
According to local tradition, some time shortly after the Norman conquest there occurred in the valley of the Ouse an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ruins of St Mary's Chapel, first recorded in 1272, are in Jesmond Dene[1] on the west side of the valley.
A trace of the processions to the shrine which occurred during the Middle Ages is found in the name of that section of the former Great North Road running north of the Tyne called Pilgrim Street. During a period in which the shrine was in need of repair it was endowed with indulgences by a rescript or edict of Pope Martin V on certain feasts of the liturgical year. A spring known as St Mary's Well of uncertain date may also be found near to the chapel. It has the word "Gratia" inscribed upon the stone above it. The greater part of the history of the shrine, its origins and the miracles which were said to have occurred there, were lost in the 16th century when the chapel was suppressed in the Reformation and fell into ruin. The ruin and its grounds later passed through various owners (one of whom tried to turn the well into a bathing pool). It was acquired by Lord Armstrong in the 19th century and given by him to the City of Newcastle. Mass is now offered there on occasion by the local Roman Catholic priest and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. Flowers along with letters and candles are often left in the ruins by pilgrims and others. A booklet outlining the surviving history of the chapel may be obtained from the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Name on North Jesmond Avenue.
The Beatles began writing their second hit single "She Loves You" in the Imperial Hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne on 27 June 1963.
The area is notable for Jesmond Parish Church, Holy Trinity Church, Jesmond Dene woodland and the Royal Grammar School. The area's principal commercial area forms around Osborne Road, Acorn Road and St George's Terrace, the former being dominated by hotels and bars, and the latter by shops and cafes.
Newcastle City Council has designated three conservation areas within Jesmond; Brandling Village, South Jesmond and Jesmond Dene.
The Mansion House was owned by a wealthy industrialist Arthur Sutherland, 1st Baronet, and is one of the most impressive residential properties in Jesmond. Built in 1887, the property was donated to the city by Sutherland in 1953 and is now the official residence of the Lord Mayor and can be used for private events. The house, situated in the centre of Jesmond previously sat in 5 acres (20,000 m2) of land. One acre of the land including previous stables were sold as a private property, now owned by relatives of Arthur Sutherland.
Along with Leeds and Belfast, Newcastle has experienced studentification. Jesmond is a popular residential area for students attending Newcastle University and Northumbria University. Osborne Road in Jesmond has a strong student population with a selection of student bars, restaurants and housing.
Newcastle Cricket Club plays its home games at Osborne Avenue, which is also a home venue for Northumberland County Cricket Club. The cricket club is currently on a 50-year lease to Newcastle Royal Grammar School. The Jesmond Lawn Tennis club is also popular for socialising.
Jesmond is one of the 26 areas in England to have a real tennis club which is used to hold events.
Notable Jesmond residents have included the industrialist William Armstrong, the golfer Lee Westwood, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, actor James Scott, English Rugby Union player Mathew Tait, footballers Shola Ameobi, Kevin Nolan and Jonás Gutiérrez, journalist and broadcaster Nancy Spain, concert pianist Denis Matthews, writer Catherine Cookson, writer and poet Michael Roberts, singers Bryan Ferry and Sting, countertenor James Bowman, TV/Radio broadcaster Bill Steel, songwriter and record producer Steve Hillier, novelists Eva Ibbotson,[15] Yevgeny Zamyatin, and Denis MacEoin (aka Daniel Easterman and Jonathan Aycliffe).
Arthur Sutherland 1st Baronet; former owner of the Mansion House. The only Briton to die[citation needed] in the Killing Fields of Cambodia, John Dewhirst, was born in Jesmond.
West Jesmond Primary School
West Jesmond is a 4-11 primary school. The original building was demolished in 2008 and a new school rebuilt on the same site. The new school building opened on 2 March 2009.
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle
Central Newcastle High School (girls only) – merged into new school
Church High School (girls only) – merged into new school
Central Newcastle High School and Church High School merged in September 2014 to create Newcastle High School for Girls
Northern Counties School
Newcastle Preparatory School
Notable buildings
Jesmond Parish Church, Newcastle upon Tyne
Jesmond Synagogue
Jesmond Parish Church
Jesmond Library
Television
For its first series, the MTV UK reality series Geordie Shore was filmed in Jesmond.
The La Sagesse School in Jesmond (now closed and converted into housing) was used as a set for The Dumping Ground (2013–), a spin-off of the popular children's television series Tracy Beaker Returns (2010–2012), starring Dani Harmer.
Jesmond is served by three Tyne and Wear Metro stations at Jesmond, West Jesmond and Ilford Road. Jesmond station is the point at which Metro trains travelling north emerge from the underground section. Trains travel southbound to Sunderland or South Shields via city centre and Gateshead and northbound to the airport via Kingston Park, or to Whitley Bay. Jesmond also has an extra section of non-passenger track called the Manors Stock Curve, used for re-routing trains. The old Jesmond station, which formed part of the suburban rail network prior to the Tyne and Wear Metro network, is situated on the Manors Stock Curve and can be observed from Osborne Terrace with intact platforms. The former station building is now a public house.
There has been an active Baháʼí Faith community in Jesmond for over 25 years, the town is home to the only Bahá’í Centre in North East England, located on Victoria Square near the civic centre.
One of the largest evangelical Anglican churches in the UK is Jesmond Parish Church, which is affiliated with the Christian Institute (based in nearby Gosforth).
Due to a rising population of students and young professionals, Osborne Road has in recent years become a popular venue for nightlife, eating and socialising. With a large number of bars and restaurants in one location it can become congested on busy nights. The road also has a number of medium-sized hotels.
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.
Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.
Roman settlement
The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.
Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.
Anglo-Saxon development
The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.
Norman period
After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.
In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.
Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of £1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.
Middle Ages
Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.
The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.
Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.
In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.
In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.
Religious houses
During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.
The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.
The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.
The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.
The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.
The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.
All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.
An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.
Tudor period
The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.
During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).
With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.
Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.
The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.
In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.
Stuart period
In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.
In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.
In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded £850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a £4,000,000 loan from the town.
In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.
In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.
A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.
Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.
In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.
In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.
Eighteenth century
In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.
In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.
In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.
Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.
The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.
In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.
A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.
Victorian period
Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.
In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.
In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.
In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.
In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.
Industrialisation
In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.
Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:
George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.
George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.
Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.
William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.
The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:
Glassmaking
A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Locomotive manufacture
In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.
Shipbuilding
In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost £205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.
Armaments
In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.
Steam turbines
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.
Pottery
In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.
Expansion of the city
Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.
Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.
Twentieth century
In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.
During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.
In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.
Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.
As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.
In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.
As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.
Recent developments
Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.
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Aug. 29, 2013. Boston, MA.
Hundreds of fast-food workers demanding $15-an-hour wages, better benefits and the right to unionize picketed outside of nine chain restaurants, including Burger King, McDonald’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts, and ended at a rally on Boston Common at which U.S. Senator Markey, Boston City Council members, and mayoral candidates spoke. Thousands of workers across the country joined in the one day strike. Over 3.6 million people work at more than 200,000 fast-food restaurants. They are paid about $9 an hour, on average — often with no benefits and irregular schedules.
© 2013 Marilyn Humphries
The Colosseum is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world, despite its age. Construction began under the Emperor Vespasian (r. 69–79 AD) in 72 and was completed in AD 80 under his successor and heir, Titus (r. 79–81). Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (r. 81–96). The three emperors who were patrons of the work are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium; Italian: Anfiteatro Flavio [aɱfiteˈaːtro ˈflaːvjo]) by later classicists and archaeologists for its association with their family name (Flavius).
The Colosseum is built of travertine limestone, tuff (volcanic rock), and brick-faced concrete. It could hold an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 spectators at various points in its history, having an average audience of some 65,000; it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles including animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, dramas based on Roman mythology, and briefly mock sea battles. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
Although substantially ruined by earthquakes and stone robbers taking spolia, the Colosseum is still a renowned symbol of Imperial Rome and was listed as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and has links to the Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum. The Colosseum is depicted on the Italian version of the 5 euro cent coin.
The site chosen was a flat area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised stream ran as well as an artificial lake/marsh. By the 2nd century BC the area was densely inhabited. It was devastated by the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain. He built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavilions, gardens and porticoes. The existing Aqua Claudia aqueduct was extended to supply water to the area and the gigantic bronze Colossus of Nero was set up nearby at the entrance to the Domus Aurea.
Although the Colossus was preserved, much of the Domus Aurea was torn down. The lake was filled in and the land reused as the location for the new Flavian Amphitheatre. Gladiatorial schools and other support buildings were constructed nearby within the former grounds of the Domus Aurea. Vespasian's decision to build the Colosseum on the site of Nero's lake can be seen as a populist gesture of returning to the people an area of the city which Nero had appropriated for his own use. In contrast to many other amphitheatres, which were on the outskirts of a city, the Colosseum was constructed in the city centre, in effect, placing it both symbolically and geographically at the heart of Rome.
Construction was funded by the opulent spoils taken from the Jewish Temple after the First Jewish–Roman War in 70 AD led to the Siege of Jerusalem. According to a reconstructed inscription found on the site, "the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheatre to be erected from his general's share of the booty." It is often assumed that Jewish prisoners of war were brought back to Rome and contributed to the massive workforce needed for the construction of the amphitheatre. This claim is disputed; it would, nonetheless, be commensurate with Roman practice to add humiliation to the defeated population. Along with this free source of unskilled labor, teams of professional Roman builders, engineers, artists, painters and decorators undertook the more specialized tasks necessary for building the Colosseum. The Colosseum was constructed with several different materials: wood, limestone, tuff, tiles, cement, and mortar.
Construction of the Colosseum began under the rule of Vespasian in around 70–72 AD (73–75 AD according to some sources). The Colosseum had been completed up to the third story by the time of Vespasian's death in 79. The top level was finished by his son, Titus, in 80, and the inaugural games were held in 80 or 81 AD. Dio Cassius recounts that over 9,000 wild animals were killed during the inaugural games of the amphitheatre. Commemorative coinage was issued celebrating the inauguration. The building was remodelled further under Vespasian's younger son, the newly designated Emperor Domitian, who constructed the hypogeum, a series of tunnels used to house animals and slaves. He also added a gallery to the top of the Colosseum to increase its seating capacity.
In 217, the Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire (caused by lightning, according to Dio Cassius), which destroyed the wooden upper levels of the amphitheatre's interior. It was not fully repaired until about 240 and underwent further repairs in 250 or 252 and again in 320. Honorius banned the practice of gladiator fights in 399 and again in 404. Gladiatorial fights are last mentioned around 435. An inscription records the restoration of various parts of the Colosseum under Theodosius II and Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), possibly to repair damage caused by a major earthquake in 443; more work followed in 484 and 508. The arena continued to be used for contests well into the 6th century. Animal hunts continued until at least 523, when Anicius Maximus celebrated his consulship with some venationes, criticised by King Theodoric the Great for their high cost.
The Colosseum underwent several radical changes of use. By the late 6th century a small chapel had been built into the structure of the amphitheater, though this apparently did not confer any particular religious significance on the building as a whole. The arena was converted into a cemetery. The numerous vaulted spaces in the arcades under the seating were converted into housing and workshops, and are recorded as still being rented out as late as the 12th century. Around 1200 the Frangipani family took over the Colosseum and fortified it, apparently using it as a castle. In the early to mid 14th century, the Pope's relocation to Avignon caused a population decline in Rome that left the region insecure. The colosseum was largely abandoned by the public and became a popular den for bandits.
Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great earthquake in 1349, causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvial terrain, to collapse. Much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. In 1377, after the Pope's return to Rome, the Colosseum was restored by a religious order called Arciconfraternita del SS. Salvatore ad Sancta Sanctorum, who then inhabited a northern portion of it until as late as the early 19th century. The interior of the amphitheater was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere, or (in the case of the marble façade) was burned to make quicklime. The iron clamps which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.
During the 16th and 17th century, Church officials sought a productive role for the Colosseum. Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) planned to turn the building into a wool factory to provide employment for Rome's prostitutes, though this proposal fell through with his premature death. In 1671 Cardinal Altieri authorized its use for bullfights; a public outcry caused the idea to be hastily abandoned.
In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV endorsed the view that the Colosseum was a sacred site where early Christians had been martyred. He forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry and consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who perished there (see Significance in Christianity).
However, there is no historical evidence to support Benedict's claim, nor is there even any evidence that anyone before the 16th century suggested this might be the case; the Catholic Encyclopedia concludes that there are no historical grounds for the supposition, other than the reasonably plausible conjecture that some of the many martyrs may well have been.
Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects, removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further. The façade was reinforced with triangular brick wedges in 1807 and 1827, and the interior was repaired in 1831, 1846 and in the 1930s. The arena substructure was partly excavated in 1810–1814 and 1874 and was fully exposed under Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.
The Colosseum is today one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions, receiving millions of visitors annually. The effects of pollution and general deterioration over time prompted a major restoration programme carried out between 1993 and 2000, at a cost of Lire 40 billion ($19.3m / €20.6m at 2000 prices).
In recent years, the Colosseum has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment, which was abolished in Italy in 1948. Several anti–death penalty demonstrations took place in front of the Colosseum in 2000. Since that time, as a gesture against the death penalty, the local authorities of Rome change the color of the Colosseum's night time illumination from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released, or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty. Most recently, the Colosseum was illuminated in gold in November 2012 following the abolishment of capital punishment in the American state of Connecticut in April 2012.
Because of the ruined state of the interior, it is impractical to use the Colosseum to host large events; only a few hundred spectators can be accommodated in temporary seating. However, much larger concerts have been held just outside, using the Colosseum as a backdrop. Performers who have played at the Colosseum in recent years have included Ray Charles (May 2002), Paul McCartney (May 2003), Elton John (September 2005), and Billy Joel (July 2006).
The average elevation of the province is 580 metres (1,900 ft). The north of the province is part of the so-called Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma converge, an area which prior to the rise of agricultural production of coffee, pineapple, coconuts, and banana plantations, was unsafe because of drug smuggling across the borders. The Mekong River forms the boundary with Laos, the Mae Sai and Ruak River with Burma. Through the town of Chiang Rai itself, flows the "Mae Kok" Kok River and south of it the Lao River, a tributary of the Kok.
LITTLE CORMORANT :
The Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger) is a member of the Cormorant family of seabirds: Aptly named, the Little Cormorant is small in comparison with other cormorants, only 55 cm in length with an average mass of 442.5 g. Salim Ali describes the Little Cormorant as a "glistening black duck-like water bird with a longish stiff tail and slender compressed bill sharply hooked at the tail." It is a resident species in most of tropical south Asia, commonly found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam; additionally, it is a vagrant species in Afghanistan. The estimated population was 280,000 - 350,000 in 2009: Due to its large population and extremely wide geographic range the Little Cormorant is categorized as least concerned by the IUCN. The Little Cormorant is not a migratory bird; it dwells year-round in trees near a water source.
> Breeding Patterns And Sexual Display
The breeding season of the Little Cormorant falls between May and October, with some minor “variations [due to] changes in the rainy season.” The actual breeding of the Little Cormorant takes place in trees, typically in the company of Darters and Egrets. At the beginning of the breeding season the male begins his advertisement or sexual display in order to attract a female: In this display, which “occurred repeatedly (2 to 9 times)…the neck was drawn back, the nape was almost or actually touching on the back, the bill was pointed upward, and the tail was spread....Within 1 to 2 days, the male started to display another step in which the wings of the advertised male were partly replaced on the back, the head was drawn back slowly, almost or actually touched the nape, threw forward in a hammer-like stroke, making a slight sound and back to the same positions repeatedly, [after which]… the head was perched…, the bill was opened a bit and the head and the neck feathers were ruffed out.” The female response occurred within two days, and then the birds begin to display together: “the female jabbed with male’s bill, head, nape, rump, tail and calling. After 5 to 7 seconds, the male flew away and after 5 to 10 minutes he came back towards the female or sometimes the male flew away to another site and the female followed him and this was performed repeatedly. With this display the pair formation occurred permanently.”
> Morphology During Breeding
Over the course of its breeding season the Little Cormorant undergoes a variety of morphological changes: In both sexes, at the beginning of the breeding season the color of the feathers dull from black to grey, or as Naher describes they "became ashy with a short occipital crest" or head plume. Also in both sexes, “the whole margin of the gular pouch was observed to become paler,…black bristles like plumes on either side of the beak and white eyelashes were found on the body of the birds,…and a white triangular patch [appears] on the head of the bird.”
> Nest Location
The nests of the Little Cormorant are often built in mixed colonies: some studies dissent on whether they mix with Storks and Egrets orFlying Foxes and Egrets, but they agree that they have mixed nesting colonies, typically located in trees near some body of water .This water source could be any type of water, natural or man-made: Little Cormorants have been observed nesting in trees near canals, drainage ditches, natural ditches, seasonally flooded agricultural lands, bogs, marshes, swamps, fens, peat-lands, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, rivers, streams, and creeks. “In rare occasions nesting trees are found away from water bodies.”
> Nest Construction
The Little Cormorant gathers a variety of plants to build its nests, depending on the geographical location: Of the vegetation used, the Little Cormorant uses most parts of the plant, but most often they use dry twigs from the plant, the dried plant in its entirety, or the stem of the plant; on occasion they do use dry fruit, leaves, and plant fiber but these are used much less often. Little Cormorants construct their nests in a cup-like shape with a depression in the middle which vary considerably in size: “the outer diameter of the nest varies from 19-45cm,…the inner diameter of the cup ranges from 9-20cm,…and the depth of the cup [varies] from 4-8cm. The male and female partner both take part in the collection and arranging of the nest, using their “breasts, legs, and bill to give the nest a proper shape.
> Eggs
The Little Cormorant has a clutch size varying from 2-6 eggs; the birds typically lay eggs at one day intervals, but were sometimes “laid at an interval of two days.” The eggs themselves are relatively pointed at one end and round at the other, measuring a length of 4–5 cm and a diameter of 2.5–3 cm. When the eggs are first laid they are white to bluish-white in color, however, over the course of incubation they become slowly brown; the later in the incubation process the darker the egg. The incubation process has been said to be between 22–26 days in past studies, however in a more recent study in Bangladesh the incubation period was from 14–21 days with a mean of 17 days; regardless of the length of the period, both the male and female take part in the incubation of the eggs.
> Foraging Patterns
"Cormorants are almost exclusively fish-eaters;" they drive their prey towards inshore waters by beating the water with their wings and gradually close in on the fish. Additionally, Cormorants are "foot-propelled pursuit drivers...well adapted to diving in shallow waters;" As such,they typically take a series of dives from the water’s surface interspersed with breathing breaks. The Little Cormorant forages in inshore waters, "following a specific foraging pattern, consisting of perching near the inshore water prior to the beginning of the dive...[and then] dropping into the water;" after the first dive, the bird pauses for a short time to recover and then continues to alternate diving and resting for a period of time; the pauses and dive lengths vary with different environmental conditions such as water depth and tide level. The foraging behavior and diving pattern of the Little Cormorant also varies significantly due to other environmental characteristics of the habitat, such as type of fish present or type of body of water.
PHOTOGRAPHY : KAUSHIK SINGHA ROY
Every day I head out the door near sundown and let the vastness of this flat terrain paint an uncluttered, majestic picture in the sky. I have NEVER caught another photographer making use of this area..are photos like this a cliche?
The Paparazzi Bots is a series of five autonomous robots each standing at the height of the average human. Comprised of multiple microprocessors, cameras, sensors, code and robotic actuators on a custom-built rolling platform, they move at the speed of a walking human, avoiding walls and obstacles while using sensors to move toward humans. They seek one thing, which is to capture photos of people and to make these images available to the press and the world wide web as a statement of culture's obsession with the “celebrity image” and especially our own images. The flash autonomously goes off, capturing people’s photos and elevating them to “celebrity” in a kind of momentary anointing by the robots. The robots also become celebrities through their association to the “famous people” at the exhibition that are captured by the Paparazzi Bots.
Each autonomous robot can make the decision to take the photos of particular people, while ignoring other humans in the exhibition, based on things such as, whether or not the viewers are smiling or the shape of their smile. When the robots identify a person or group they will automatically adjust their focus and use a series of bright flashes to record that moment.
Surveillance technologies straddle a delicate balance that we have in contemporary culture, where we are all photographed without our knowledge by cell phones, hidden cameras and sometimes “celebritized”. This is a kind of modern baptism with the camera flash and the spectacle of being the focus of the camera becoming a kind of techno anointing.
This work explores ideas surrounding the shifting territories of self and machine and how machines can manipulate the other (us) in a grand co-evolutionary dance of emerging robot-human relations.
The recent emergence of social networks and their ability to connect people through software prompts via the world wide web is a prime example of the co-evolution of humans and their intelligent machines. The fact that the software prompts exploit our social needs for connectivity and social space is so easily exploited in this new critical juncture in our emerging machine human relations.
This camera can track your head and be set to take a photo if you smile mildly, medium-smile or pull-a-muscle smile. When set to smile mode, they do seem to prefer even smiles rather than crooked smiles so here the machine is making determinations about issues of "beauty". I have considered holding a robot beauty contest as an addition to this work.
By Ken Rinaldo.
Special Thanks to Shirley Madill curator who invited these works to Toronto for Nuit Blanche
Special Thanks to Amy Youngs the midwife to the birth of these robots.
Thanks to the Dynasty Foundation, Russia and Dmitry Bulatov Curator, for funding this robot Commission.
Thanks to Malcolm Levy who invited the production of three more Paparazzi Bots for the Vancouver Olympics in 2010
Thanks to the College of Arts and Humanities for further funding of this project.