Tyneside - Steel and Shipbuilding

Steel and Shipbuilding

The valley of the River Derwent, a major tributary of the Tyne that rises in County Durham, saw the development of the steel industry from around 1600 onwards. This was led by German immigrant cutlers and sword-makers, probably from around Solingen, who fled from religious persecution at home and settled in the then village of Shotley Bridge, near Consett.

The combination of coal and steel industries in the area was the catalyst for further major industrial development in the 19th century, including the shipbuilding industry—at its peak, the Tyneside shipyards were one of the largest centres of shipbuilding in the world, and built an entire navy for Japan in the first decade of the 20th century. There is still a working shipyard in Wallsend.