Cullercoats
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with a population 9,407 in 2004. It has now been absorbed into the North Tyneside
North Tyneside
The Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England and is part of the Tyneside conurbation. Its seat is Wallsend Town Hall....
conurbation, sitting between Tynemouth
Tynemouth
Tynemouth is a town and a historic borough in Tyne and Wear, England, at the mouth of the River Tyne, between North Shields and Cullercoats . It is administered as part of the borough of North Tyneside, but until 1974 was an independent county borough in its own right...
and Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay is a town in North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the North Sea coast and has a fine stretch of golden sandy beach forming a bay stretching from St. Mary's Island in the north to Cullercoats in the south...
. There is a semi-circular sandy beach with cliffs and caves, and the village is a popular destination for day-tripper
Day-tripper
A day-tripper is a person who visits a tourist destination or visitor attraction from his/her home and returns home on the same day.- Definition :In other words, this excursion does not involve a night away from home such as experienced on a holiday...
s. The name is thought to derive from Dove (or Culver) Cotes.
History and architecture
Historically the village depended on fishing; there was also local coal miningCoal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
in so-called bell pit
Bell pit
A bell pit is a primitive method of mining coal, iron ore or other minerals where the coal or ore lies near the surface.. A shaft is sunk to reach the mineral which is excavated by miners transported to the surface by a winch and removed by means of a bucket, much like a well. It gets its name...
s. The coal was used to fire salt pans (now long gone) on the field now known as the boat field. As a port, Cullercoats was used to export both salt and coal. However, the salt industry declined and the growth of the railways led to coal shipments being relocated to better harbours. This left fishing as the main industry and two piers were built on either side of the harbour to provide shelter for the many open top fishing vessels, or coble
Coble
The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull...
s, launched from the harbour.
The harbour is the home of the Dove Marine Laboratory
Dove Marine Laboratory
The Dove Marine Laboratory is a research and teaching laboratory which forms part of the School of Marine Science and Technology within Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.- History :The original Laboratory was established in October 1897...
, a research and teaching laboratory which forms part of the School of Marine Science and Technology within Newcastle University
In 1848, a coble
Coble
The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull...
taking a pilot to a ship further out at sea capsized with the loss of all on board. In response to this disaster the local landowner, the Duke of Northumberland
Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland
Admiral Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland KG, PC, FRS , styled Lord Algernon Percy until 1816 and known as The Lord Prudhoe between 1816 and 1847, was a British naval commander, explorer and Conservative politician.-Background:Northumberland was the younger son of General Hugh Percy, 2nd...
funded the setting up of an RNLI lifeboat
Lifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
station. The following year a second disaster, this time costing 20 lifeboat crew their lives, prompted the Duke to sponsor a competition to design a self-righting lifeboat. The resulting boat, the Percy was built at the Duke's expense and delivered to Cullercoats in 1852. The Brigade House and watchtower were later added above the harbour, but the lifeboat station remained in use, with a few minor alterations, until 2003 when a new station was opened.
The Bay Hotel, an important local landmark, was demolished in 2005. It is notable for a period in the 1880s when it was home to the American watercolour artist Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art....
who stayed in room 17 of the Hudleston Arms (1870) (later called the Bay Hotel), and maintained a studio across the road at No.12 Bank Top (demolished 1930). Homer was a resident in Cullercoats for approximately 18 months, from late March 1881 to early November 1882. An apartment block, named Winslow Court, has been built on the site of the Bay Hotel (2007).
Homer was the most famous of the professional artists who were part of the "Cullercoats Colony" in the period 1870-1920. Others included Henry H. Emmerson, Robert Jobling, Arthur H. Marsh, Isa Thompson, John Falconer Slater and John Charlton and visitors like Ralph Hedley
Ralph Hedley
Ralph Hedley was a realist painter, woodcarver and illustrator, best known for his paintings portraying scenes of everyday life in the North of England....
.
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
s which were preserved during the redevelopment of the village in the 1970s. Between the coast and the railway (now Metro) line are Victorian terraces. The land immediately on the other side consists of long avenues of semi-detached houses built between the wars. Another change can be seen along the line of Broadway where the housing changes again to mixed semi-detached/detached 1970s and 1980s housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
s built around long winding roads and cul-de-sac
Cul-de-sac
A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
s. Also of note is St George's Parish Church
St George's Cullercoats
St. George's, Cullercoats, North Tyneside, England was built in the 19th century French Gothic style.-Background:Looking over the North Sea, beacon-like, it was designed by the church architect John Loughborough Pearson and built in 1884 by the 6th Duke of Northumberland...
as a good example of Gothic revival architecture.
The present station
Cullercoats Metro station
Cullercoats Metro station is the Tyne and Wear Metro station serving Cullercoats on the North Tyneside coast. It was originally built by the North Eastern Railway as part of the North Tyneside Loop...
was first opened by the North Eastern Railway
North Eastern Railway (UK)
The North Eastern Railway , was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923...
in 1882, and the original station buildings are still in use, although now for the Tyne and Wear Metro
Tyne and Wear Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro, also known as the Metro, is a light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland. It opened in 1980 and in 2007–2008 provided 40 million public journeys on its network of nearly...
.
Notable residents
- Chas ChandlerChas ChandlerBryan James "Chas" Chandler was an English musician, record producer and manager of several successful music acts....
- Guitarist with The AnimalsThe AnimalsThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
and manager of Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
. - Carol Clewlow - Novelist: 'A Woman's Guide to Adultery'.
- Winslow HomerWinslow HomerWinslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art....
- American painter. - Christian RodskaChristian RodskaChristian Rodska is an English actor who has appeared in many television and radio series and narrated a number of audiobooks...
- Actor. - Andy TaylorAndy Taylor (guitarist)Andy Taylor is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as a member of Duran Duran and The Power Station....
- Musician with Duran DuranDuran DuranDuran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
. - Christopher Petherbridge- Current striker at Barrow Town F.C and the top all time goal scorer in the Conference NationalConference NationalConference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
Cullercoats Life Brigade House
Another notable building is the Watch House (1879), built for the use of the Cullercoats Volunteer Life BrigadeVolunteer Life Brigade
A Volunteer Life Brigade is a search and rescue organisation which assists HM Coastguard in the United Kingdom in coastal emergencies. There are only a few Volunteer Life Brigades left in the United Kingdom, with most being replaced by Auxiliary Coastguard teams.-History of Volunteer Life...
. It is now the home of the Watch House Club (est. 1932).
Cullercoats NAVTEX transmissions
Cullercoats is the base from which NavtexNavtex
NAVTEX is an international automated medium frequency direct-printing service for delivery of navigational and meteorological warnings and forecasts, as well as urgent marine safety information to ships...
transmissions for the western North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
area are broadcast.