Northumbria

5,000 years of industry

There are four counties in the region of Northumbria. They are Tyne and Wear, Cleveland, Durham and Northumberland. This is a region of great natural beauty although industry of some kind has existed here for thousands of years.

Industry and the sea

There has been a fishing industry in Northumbria probably since the middle of the 13th century. Wooden ships were built for fishing and for trading and this industry grew and grew, particularly during the 18th century. By 1850 the building of iron steamships became a major industry on the rivers Tyne, Wear and Tees. One hundred years ago a quarter of the world's ships were built in Northumbria. Today, sadly, this industry is disappearing.

H.M.S. Warrior, the world's first iron battleship, is over 130 years old. Now it lies in Hartlepool harbour, where it is open to visitors.

The Industrial Revolution

About 200 years ago a period of great industrial growth began in Britain. This growth was fed by coal and steam power.

During the 19th century the Northeast of England led the world in many types of heavy industry. You have already read about iron steamships. In addition, there were railway engineering, bridge building, industrial machinery, and for the making of all this - iron and steel production.

There was also an important textile industry. Both Yorkshire with its wool and Lancashire with its cotton were major textile-producing areas at this time.

You can learn a lot about this period by visiting an industrial museum like the one at Beamish.

Industrial misery

During the Industrial Revolution, many people moved from the country to the towns, where they usually lived in dirty and overcrowded conditions. They worked long hours for very little money. Even small children had to work in the factories and mines. Many writers, in particular Charles Dickens, have written about their misery. He wrote this description of one of the new industrial towns:

'It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it. It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys out of which smoke came for ever and ever. It had a black canal in it and a river that ran purple with bad-smelling dye.'

Today the noise and smoke of factories from the time of Dickens have been replaced by modern industry, and the 19th century slums have been cleared. But this region - like many others - has been badly affected by the post-industrial recession. Unemployment is very high, as it was in the 1930s when economic depression forced men and women on to the dole queues, and things became so bad that a hunger march was organized from Jarrow to London. The 1980s have also seen dole queues and unemployment marches from the North towards London. Many of the traditional heavy industries are disappearing, and the region is developing new technological industries to help it overcome its difficulties. These include electrical engineering, plastics, fine chemicals, computers, and North Sea oil and gas.

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 63 f.

Is unemployment a problem in your country?

Do you know anyone who is unemployed?

What can be done to solve the problem?