South Marine Park, South Shields

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Just a quick one this week, South Shields' South Marine Park (I had planned a couple of the North Marine Park too but trees now block the views).

The Marine Parks date back to 1886 when they were landscaped from the so-called 'ballast hills'; ships on their way to the Tyne to collect coal would be unbalanced if they journeyed with empty holds so they carried ballast in the form of rocks and earth which was dumped on the sea front.

Head gardener John Peebles' meticulous journals were used to restore the parks to their original condition when £5 million from the Lottery Heritage Fund and South Tyneside Council was awarded in 2007, visibly with a new bandstand, the original had been removed even by the time of the second postcard.

2010 photos © Chris Perriman

Tyne Bridge under construction - 1927-1928 & 2010

From the High Level Bridge and Newcastle Quayside. Click on pics for larger versions.

The Tyne Bridge is probably Newcastle's most recognisable landmark. Opened by King George V and Queen Mary on October 10th 1928 it is widely supposed to be the precursor to the Sydney Harbour Bridge which opened in 1932.  Although both were built by Dorman Long and Co. of Middlesbrough, Sydney's bridge had already been under construction for over two years by the time work started in Newcastle, and both were in fact based on New York's Hell Gate Bridge which opened in 1916.

2010 photos © Chris Perriman