River Tyne

Thomas John Taylor (1810–1861)[4] theorised that the main course of the river anciently flowed through what is now Team Valley, its outlet into the tidal river being by a waterfall at Bill Point (in the area of Bill Quay).[5] His theory was not far from the truth, as there is evidence that prior to the last Ice Age, the River Wear once followed the current route of the lower River Team and merged with the Tyne at Dunston. Ice diverted the course of the Wear to its current location, flowing east the course of the Tyne) and joining the North Sea at Sunderland.[6]

The River Tyne is believed to be around 30 million years old.[7]

The conservation of the Tyne has been handled by various bodies over the past 500 years. Conservation bodies have included: Newcastle Trinity House,[8] and the Tyne Improvement Commission.[8] The Tyne Improvement Commission conservation lasted from 1850 until 1968.[8] The 1850–1950 era was the worst period for pollution of the river.[8] The Tyne Improvement Commission laid the foundations for what has become the modern day Port of Tyne.[9] Under the management of the Tyne Improvement Commissioners, over a period of the first 70 years the Tyne was deepened from 1.83 to 9.14 meters and had 150 million tonnes dredged from it.[9] Inside these 70 years, the two Tyne piers were built;[9] Northumbrian, Tyne and Albert Docks were built[9] as well as the staithes at Whitehill and Dunston.[9] This infrastructure enabled millions of tonnes of cargo to be handled by the Port by 1910.[9] As of 2021 the tidal river is now managed by the Port of Tyne Authority, and has been managed by the Port of Tyne Authority since 1968.[8][9]

The River Tyne at Bill Quay

With its proximity to surrounding coalfields, the Tyne was a major route for the export of coal from the 13th century until the decline of the coal mining industry in North East England in the second half of the 20th century. The largest coal staithes were located at Dunston in Gateshead, Hebburn and Tyne Dock, South Shields. The dramatic wooden staithes (a structure for loading coal onto ships) at Dunston, built in 1890, have been preserved, although they were partially destroyed by fire in 2006 and then a further fire in May 2020 means that the Staithes is becoming more vulnerable to vandalism and would need extensive financing to preserve it and make it secure.[10] In 2016, Tyne Dock, South Shields was still involved with coal, importing 2 million tonnes of shipments a year. The lower reaches of the Tyne were, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, one of the world's most important centres of shipbuilding, and there are still shipyards in South Shields and Hebburn to the south of the river. To support the shipbuilding and export industries of Tyneside, the lower reaches of the river were extensively remodelled during the second half of the 19th century, with islands (including Kings Meadow, the largest) removed and meanders in the river straightened.

Nothing definite is known of the origin of the designation Tyne, nor is the river known by that name until the Saxon period: Tynemouth is recorded in Anglo-Saxon as Tinanmuðe (probably dative case). The Vedra on the Roman map of Britain may be the Tyne, or may be the River Wear. Ptolemy's Tína could be a "misplaced reference" to either this river or the Tyne in East Lothian.[11] There is a theory that *tīn was a word that meant "river" in the local Celtic language or in a language spoken in England before the Celts came: compare Tardebigge.

A supposed pre-Celtic root *tei, meaning 'to melt, to flow' has also been proposed as an etymological explanation of the Tyne and similarly-named rivers,[12] as has a Brittonic derivative of Indo-European *teihx, meaning 'to be dirty' (Welsh tail, 'manure').[12]

The River Tyne has a charity dedicated to protecting and enhancing its waters and surrounding areas. The Tyne Rivers Trust, established in 2004, is a community-based organisation that works to improve habitat, promote better understanding of the Tyne catchment area and build the reputation of the Tyne catchment as a place of environmental excellence.[20]

• Asonance – Kopce u pramenů řeky Tyne / Hills on Tyne's source (a Czech adaptation of the folk song The Rolling Hills of the Borders, which does not mention the Tyne)
• Blur – This Is a Low
• Busker – Home Newcastle
• Elvis Costello – Oliver's Army
• Elton John – Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher (Billy Elliot musical)
• Mark Knopfler – Sailing to Philadelphia, Why Aye Man, Fare Thee Well Northumberland, 5.15 A.M.
• Lindisfarne – Fog on the Tyne
• Madness – Driving in My Car
• Jimmy Nail – Big River
• Gretchen Peters – England Blues
• Hilton Valentine – River Tyne
• Kate Rusby – Bring Me a Boat
• Sting – All This Time, I Was Brought To My Senses
• Dire Straits – Southbound Again, Down to the Waterline
• Gazza – Fog on the Tyne
• Traditional, covered by Sting – Waters of Tyne
• Renaissance – Back Home Once Again (The Paper Lads' TV Theme)
• Roger Whittaker – Durham Town (The Leavin') (even though Durham is actually on the River Wear and not the Tyne)
• Eric Burdon and the Animals – The Immigrant Lad
• The Nice – Five Bridges Suite
• Genesis - Blood on the Rooftops
• Big Big Train – Swan Hunter
• The Libertines – Hooray for the 21st Century
• The Dreadnoughts - Roll, Northumbria

• Association of Rivers Trusts
• Rivers of the United Kingdom
• Tyne Valley, Prince Edward Island
• Tuxedo Princess
• Northeast England
• Tyne, the name of one of the sea areas of the British Shipping Forecast.

• Leona J. Skelton. Tyne after Tyne: An Environmental History of a River's Battle for Protection, 1529–2015. Winwick White Horse Press, 2017. ISBN 978-1-874267-95-9.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to River Tyne.

• Bridges On The Tyne
• Online Charts of The Tyne, to Newcastle
• Tyne Rivers Trust