Handyman Tynemouth

About  Tynemouth

Moreover, these strategic geographical positions also made Tynemouth and the surrounding region important locations for coastal or maritime-based activities. Some key themes will be explored within the essay, demonstrating the importance of geography in how places develop over history. These themes demonstrate the close relationship between the Earth's physical characteristics and how humans use these places for economic and cultural reasons. The themes to be explored include the natural advantages of geographical location and how this has influenced settlement, the role of an area's physical geography, such as the relief, soils, and climate, and how humans may have adapted or modified the landscape. Geographic location can also influence decisions regarding the management of coastal areas.

Ancient History and Origins of Tynemouth

Evidence suggests that early Tynemouth was home to humans either sedentarily or as a stopover settlement in prehistory. Archaeologically, little is understood about this early occupation. A handaxe was recovered from the priory in 1851, the exact provenance of which is unknown. An Iron Age and Romano-British farmstead was excavated at Quarry Lane in 1962. Several Iron Age pits and gullies were recorded, heavily silting by the second half of the first century AD - the lead-up period to the Roman occupation. Historically, Tynemouth wasn't the earliest Roman settlement in the region, but it was one of the most significant.

Civilian Tynesiders met soldiers' needs and aided them in other ways – in doing so, Tynesiders contributed to Romano-British and Roman culture and brought aspects back to Tynemouth, too. To this extent, Tynemouth and other Roman forts in the region were like medieval monastic centres during the later Middle Ages - they acted as conduits for cultural and economic exchanges, and modern research has attempted to unpick the complexities of the financial and political relations of Romano-British sites. Since at least 3000 to 5000 years ago, Tynesiders practised rural and urban rites and professional specialisms (many of which were religiously linked), served up and entertained citizens, imported and enjoyed luxury foods, offered personal devotions and religious sacrifices (both people and animals), and underwent both monumental and cremation post-mortem rites at the end of their life. Ethnographically, this all occurred in a sophisticated cosmopolitan civilisation centred across South East England. Modern archaeology has been critical of the extent to which this area was under direct administrative control, understandably. With all these connections, rights of passage that romantic bards would have crooned about was firstly the hyperborean tour de Tyneside to Hadrian's Wall, after which a directive was given to visit York. It was only after a visitor had visited these extant end-of-the-world capital administrative governing centres of Roman-uptaken Northern England that a beeline was made back to London. As the official guiding document shows, this continued well into the frontier era post-Constantina. Wine trading ventures would have certainly benefited Caesar and Roman pockets in Britain, too. Over 400 years, Tynemouth began evolving from Roman-period Romanised British or paleo-British country into medieval English. Ethnically, these people would later hold much mixed-heathen veneration into English, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval English, etc., regional harbours of the Northeast. One beautiful mesh of their sterling indigenous heathen heritage and the Christianity that came to colonise and erase it is the well-documented exegesis, pilgrimage, and trade at Tynemouth's High and Low Lights for over a millennium. Such cultural ties still hold strong today in the cultural psychology and physical religious-votive stations and pilgrimage to modern-day Tynemouth's strategic tip.

Medieval Tynemouth: Monastic and Military Influences

When the Normans landed in England in the 11th century, they took control of established towns like York. They established their own new towns, built to a different plan and for other purposes from their Anglo-Saxon predecessors. Tynemouth, which had been a monastery for hundreds of years, remained a settlement, significant in the most spiritual sense, in one case drawing in more of humanity than ever, and in a military sense, warding off invasions and providing a safe shelter. In our summer coastal heritage project, we found coins that place coin production in Tynemouth between c. 854-92. This points to the Viking occupation; Tynemouth has been cited as the site of a battle, but it likely indicates a relationship between the monastery in Tynemouth and the Danes.

The priory was established in 1090 in the same position it was initially built over a millennium ago, on the rocky headland between the Tyne and the North Sea. Once a small defensive fort beneath the treasury, original masonry from the nearby Roman Signal Station, on the site of which the medieval castle's keep was built, is visible. The priory of Tynemouth lay at a crucial threshold, both symbolically a gateway to the greatness of Cuthbert and very literally on the main road to the North and its abundant riches. Monasteries, having developed in England since the late 7th century, were initially all but inhospitable. Emphatically religious as these sites remained, they were also far from simple. They had a powerful influence on culture by copying and preserving manuscripts and, later, by teaching the wealthy and pious. They were economic constructs, landowners, and employers; they funded local taxation and the war in Scotland. They sponsored a network of hospitals, usually centred on providing care for pilgrims, which also benefited the poor. These buildings' designs, art, and architectural heritage linger in our more fantastic cities.

Tynemouth in the Modern Era: Industrialisation and Tourism

Historically, Tynemouth was a relatively small town as England entered the early modern period and underwent several changes to become what it is today. This section discusses the role of Tynemouth in the modern era, exploring the intertwining of industrialisation and the town's tourism. In essence, the city was impacted by a cycle of development and regeneration, variously strengthening its identity as a place of heritage and a seaside town, promoting Tynemouth's local attractions as part of the tourist industry. Tynemouth was impacted by these forces just like any other heritage area; yet, considerably, it succeeded in maintaining unobtrusive development, taking into account its history as a significant religious and military site, rife with evidence of old and new human habitation.

It was not a fortress that brought about modern development for Tynemouth, but rather industry in the surrounding built-up areas, trade, and new modern facilities providing an increased quality of life. The practical impacts of ships and services brought increasing development to the town and promoted growth in the inhabitants. The development followed industrialisation. Tynemouth had slowly become a tourist town from the day that holidaymakers first came to the sea for leisure, whether they passed through on their way to a more popular tourist attraction, visited to see its history, enjoyed a cruise around the coast, or explored the oldest sights and sounds of Tynemouth because the Benedictine Priory was essential to their field of research. They improved the bathing practices to attract more tourists, built more attractions, and improved and extended the sea defences.