River Tyne, England
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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 Acomb in Northumberland.
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.
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 combined Tyne flows from Hexham through Corbridge in Northumberland. It enters the county of Tyne and Wear at Prudhoe and continues through Blaydon, the seven bridges of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then Gateshead and Jarrow to the Tyne Tunnel, North Shields and finally to Tynemouth and South Shields and 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.
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 major shipyards at Wallsend on the north of the river and Jarrow 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 bends in the course of the river straightened.
Crossings
- Tyne Tunnel (road)
- Gateshead Millennium Bridge (bicycle and foot)
- Tyne Bridge {road, foot)
- Swing Bridge (road and foot)
- High Level Bridge {rail, road and foot}
- Queen Elizabeth II Bridge (Metro light rail)
- King Edward VII Bridge (mainline railway)
- Redheugh Bridge (road, foot)
- Scotswood Bridge (road, foot)
- Blaydon Bridge (road, foot)
- Newburn Bridge (road, foot)