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River Tyne

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Tyne redirects here. For the river in Scotland, see River Tyne, Scotland. Or see tine or Thynne.
River Tyne
Physical characteristics
MouthTynemouth
Length100 km (62 mi)
The Tyne Bridge across the River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead. Taken from the deck of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, looking west and upstream.

The River Tyne is a river in England. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers, the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed the Meeting of the Waters.

The North Tyne rises on the Scottish border, north of Kielder Water. It flows through Kielder Forest, and passes through no major settlements before Hexham.

The South Tyne rises on Alston Moor, Cumbria and flow through the towns of Haltwhistle and Haydon Bridge, in a valley often called the Tyne Gap. Hadrian's Wall lies to the North of the Tyne Gap. Coincidentally the source of the South Tyne is very close to the sources of the other two great rivers of the industrial north east namely the Tees and the Wear.

The combined Tyne flows from Hexham through Corbridge in Northumberland. It enters the county of Tyne and Wear between Clara Vale (on the South bank in Gateshead) and Tyne Riverside Country Park (on the North bank in Newcastle upon Tyne) and continues to divide Newcastle and Gateshead for 13 miles, during which it is spanned by 10 bridges. To the East of Gateshead and Newcastle, the Tyne divides Hebburn and Jarrow on the South bank from Wallsend and North Shields. Jarrow and North Shields are linked underneath the river by the Tyne Tunnel. Finally it flows between South Shields and Tynemouth into the North Sea. As it passes through the Tyneside conurbation, the river marks the pre-1974 border between County Durham (to the south) and Northumberland (to the north).

The Tyne was a major route for the export of coal from the 13th century until the decline of the coalfields of North East England in the second half of the 20th century. Dramatic wooden staithes (a structure for loading coal onto ships) have been preserved at Dunston in Gateshead, although partly damaged by fire[1].

The lower reaches of the Tyne were, in the late 19th and early 20th century, one of the world's most important centres of shipbuilding, and there are still major shipyards at Wallsend on the north of the river and Hebburn on the south.

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 removed and meanders in the river straightened.

Origins

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). 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.

The River Vedra on the Roman map of Britain may be the Tyne, or may be the River Wear. The late Thomas John Taylor supposed 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. There may have also been communication with the River Wear via Team Valley, though this is subject to debate.

River Crossings

River Tyne

River North Tyne

River South Tyne

Fish stocks 1944 onwards

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 In 1944 the North, South and main Tyne were good trout rivers with prolific insect life. There were also dace throughout their deep pools. On several occasions 4 lb trout were caught, although the “average” big fish was normally around 1 lb 4oz. It was suspected that some of the larger trout were escapees from private lakes. James Hall, a school teacher from Hexham, fished with fly for 50 years. His biggest trout was 2 lb 1oz from the West Allen, a tributary of the South Tyne. Smolts were still caught in the spring in varying numbers.

In 1950 indiscriminate gravel digging throughout the Tyne system left deep lagoons and stretches of sluggish water. A large population of pike built up, mainly in the Hexham area. At this time Guy Hall, the 12-year old son of James, bought a 30 shilling salmon licence. Between 1944 and 1952, Guy saw only two fresh salmon, and just one sea trout.

In the late 1950s the removal of gravel below Hexham Bridge eroded its foundations to make, in effect, a high dam. Here a school boy, fishing for pike, caught a fresh spring salmon. Other anglers caught a number of fresh salmon and the run steadily increased from year to year. An employee of Tyne Metal Company caught 40 in a single season fishing only in his lunch hour! Without external intervention the salmon had returned to the Tyne. Killing of the fish was indiscriminate, and complaints about the "dam" eventually resulted in building a fish pass.

There were numerous disputes over the ownership of many stretches of Tyne fishing. Some continue to the present day.

In the early 1960s the Tyne system was badly affected by ulcerative dermal necrosis (UDN). (A similar disease broke out in the 1880s, and lasted for at least 40 years. The exact duration is unknown due to the disruption caused by the first World War.) On the River Border Esk (to the west of the Tyne), UDN rendered the entire run of spring salmon extinct. The Tyne salmon were not affected to such an extent, but some suspect that UDN persists to this day, and that it may be involved in the summer estuarine deaths which occur in periods of low water from June onwards.

Every autumn after the first frost large numbers of dead and dying salmon and sea trout are found near the mouth of the Newbrough Burn in the South Tyne. Of those found dead since at least 1985, more than 50% had not spawned.

The North Tyne was dammed in the 1970s to create Kielder Reservoir, and a salmon hatchery was opened to compensate for a lack of spawning ground. Intermittent and highly unnatural surges of water now flowed down the North Tyne and into the main Tyne. This resulted in the drastic reduction in the population of crayfish, swan mussels and the insect population. Water abstraction made this worse. The water flow from the reservoir is now dark brown, peaty and flocculent, and the river bed is slimy. The population of river flies is a fraction of its former self. Concurrently the brown trout population of the entire system is in severe decline. In order to compensate for this, stock fish whose average size is unnaturally large for the system, are regularly added to the river. It is thought that many of these fish may migrate and return to the river as sea trout. Unfortunately many Tyne sea trout are of poor culinary quality.

Due to the heavy summer fish mortality, there is great discussion on the future of the Kielder hatchery. Many people consider that it is responsible for the steady improvement in salmon runs. The Environment Agency’s report, "The Role of Stocking in Recovery of the River Tyne Salmon Fisheries" [2] has received little publicity locally, despite its potential contribution to the debate.

Songs featuring the Tyne

See also

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