South Shields Harbour is great spot and probably is the key attraction of the town along with its wonderful beaches. It is a wonderful place to sail also . It was also a key feature to the Romans as it allowed them to create a supplies base for Hadrians Wall . In 2001, a sonic survey was done of the Harbour and 41 buried wrecks were found - a possible treasure chest , if someone can raise the money to excavate them.The following are a series of pictures taken of the harbour over a long period of time , I have also included some pictures of nearby attractions. I have visited the sites of these old pictures and in looking at the site and the picture , one thought always comes to mind "Where have all the people gone" - I find it very thought provoking.
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| Various plans were proposed in the 1800's , for the building of Piers for the Tyne , and here they are shown all together . |
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| South Shields Harbour and River entrance circa 1870 . On the site across the River , Readhead & Softley had just begun their first Shipyard . One of the previous occupants of this site was John Oliver & Sons who built the "Tyne" lifeboat in 1833 . | South Shields Harbour and River entrance circa 1880,s , with North Shields Fish Quay and Lowlight in the foreground . | ||
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| The Lawe Top on a nice sunny day in the late 1890,s. The old English word "Law" means " a hill". The two canons came from Sebastopol . | The same view , but about 110 years later - March 2005 . It looks like the Navigation beacon erected in 1832 by John Turnbull for £60 has been shortened . | ||
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| This is a lovely family cameo taken in 1900 of "Mam and Dad plus Baby" having a day out at the beach - probably Sunday as most worked Saturday's . The location is near to Shields Pier . | I love this picture ,because of the lovely little donkey on the right. Taken in the early 1900's and to the right is the Lifeboat Station built in 1867 . John Simpson Kirkpatrick learnt to work with Donkeys on this beach and as a result of the knowledge gained , he and some donkeys saved in the region of 300 lives at Gallipoli during World War 1 . |
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| The Harbour beach in 1929 - it looks a grim day to be at the beach , everybody well wrapped up and somebody with a brolly | This looks to be a pretty chilly day to be on the beach in 1930 , not the kind of day to be showing your knickers. |
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." I have included a pic of Jenny the Donkey at the Shields Beach around 1933 - it is of my father in law (Thomas Slater) upon the donkey with a little dog. He used to help Eddie the Donkeyman - aka Eddie Ashley , on weekends, walking Jenny up and down the beach. Hope you wont be offended by the next bit , but apparently the donkey was good for getting rid of excess wind in the tummy - hence my father in law became known as Fartin Thomas!! " . The location is opposite Beach Road - near to the Fairground . Courtesy of Valerie Slater |
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| Copyright : Valerie & Thomas Slater |
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This is my wife's family having a great day at the beach on a Sunday, in the early 1950's. The Beach attire has certainly changed to that of the 1920's & 30's . |
This is Betty my mother in law (centre) and my wife as child on the left , hanging on to what appears to be a GP14 sailing dinghy. Circa : Early 1950's on a Sunday |
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| The Groyne seems to have had a fatal attraction for ships - this is the Brig "Ann" of Guernsey which was wrecked during the gale of 8th Feb 1883. |
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| This is the "Adelfotis II" wrecked on the Groyne during the mid 1960's. As I recall there was a strong NE gale blowing and her steering motor failed on entering the harbour . She was an old Lebanese steamer and was scrapped on site | "Adelfotis II" - she ran aground on 11 Jan 1963 , here the crew are being rescued . |
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| The Harbour in 1910 | The construction of Harbour Drive in 1936 |
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This must have been a sight to see - taken from the Groyne in 1919 - it is of the Airship R33 & the submarine J7 . Airship R33 - Launched at Selby on the 6th March 1919 , she measured 643ft (193 m) long and 79ft (24m) diameter and was capable of an airspeed 62 mph ( 104 km/h). Her design was based on the German L33 airship which was forced down by a British nightfighter during a raid on London on 23rd/24th Sept 1916 . As German Airship design was considered well in advance of ours a very detailed study of her was made and the R33 was designed around what they found . Submarine J7 - Built in 1917 at H.M. Dockyard , Devonport she had a crew of 5 Officers & 39 Ratings . She was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy on the 25th March 1919. She now lies in shallow water off Melbourne , Australia and is a popular dive site . At low tide it is possible to walk on the wreck .
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This is the Pier in about 1929 a very popular walk then and still is , particularly on New Years day when Shields folk take the walk to"clear the heed". In the distance on the right , is the Titan crane built by Stothert & Pitt at a cost of £8,350 and commissioned on 26th June 1899 . The landing on the left is now gone , but it was used by ferries for trips to Newcastle and around the Harbour . |
This is the Pier in September 2001. Construction of both North and South piers began on 15th June 1854 but it was not until 1895 that they were completed - 41 years later . The work was severely hampered by the severe Gales of 1862 , 1865 , 1867 and 1868. They did a great job . | |
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| The old Lifeboat Station built in 1867 - taken at the turn of the Century , circa 1900 . | The old Lifeboat Station built in 1867 - Dec. 2003 | |
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| At the start of the Pier , with the Pier Keepers office on the right - October 2002 | The Pier Head and Fairground to the left , there looks to be a canny few "trippers" in judging by the number of buses parked up . | |
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| South Shields Fairground - early 1970's- Courtesy of Robert Crichton Priddy | ||
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| The "Titan" crane doing some repair work in 1959 , caused by the collier Sir John Snell. "Titan" was built by Stothert & Pitt at a cost of £8,350 and commissioned on 26th June 1899 . Courtesy Ken Groundwater . | This is the collier "Sir John Snell" after her "dunch" with South Shields pier in 1959. Built by Hall & Russell , Aberdeen in 1955 for the delivery of coal to Brighton "B" Power Station . She was scrapped in 1980 . Courtesy Ken Groundwater . | |
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| Another unfortunate sailing ship that has come to grief while trying to enter the Tyne. | ||
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| Mail steamer Leda , built in 1952 by Swan - Hunter & Wigham Richardson . Gross tonnage of 6,670 tons . Here she is with Ridleys tug Maximus on here way back to Norway .. | This is Fred Olsens lovely ferry "Leda" leaving the Tyne sometime in the 1950's . | |
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| This is the CD "Constructor" - a pipelayer - leaving the Tyne early 2002 . | Turkish ship Hereke 4 entering the Tyne with Tugs Yarm Cross & Rowangarth - Dec 2002 . |
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| The South Marine Park circa 1890,s taken from the Bents Ballast hills . This and the North Marine Park were the early efforts of the Town council to turn South Shields into a holiday resort. The ballast hills were the result of ships ballast being dumped here after they had entered harbour . As the stuff came from all over World , it was said that in the Summer all sorts of exotic plants sprouted up . | This is the South Marine Park in about 1890 with the memorial to William Woodhave , reputably the inventor of the first lifeboat although there is some doubt now about that. The monument was originally built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee. |
