Discover South Shields, Tyne and Wear

King Street pedestrian mall, South Shields, England: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Shields_King_Street_2007.JPG
Author: Richzena


South Shields is a coastal town at the mouth of River Tyne, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is often known simply as Shields. Located about 8 km (5 mi) downriver from Newcastle upon Tyne, South Shields has a population of 83,000 people (2012 estimate).

The history of South Shields goes back to Celtic times, when the Brigantes tribe settled in the area. They were followed by the Romans, who built a fort here in AD 160. Next came the Anglo Saxons in the 6th century, and the Vikings in the 9th. Nothing of significance has been documented here until the 13th century, with present-day South Shield being established around 1245.

South Shields began to developed in the 19th century due to coal mining. This grew its population from 12,000 in 1801 to 75,000 in the 1860s. It also had a shipbuilding industry that was established in the mid 19th century. These only attracted German bombardments during the First and Second World Wars. The coal and shipbuilding industries were so severely crippled that they never recovered due to cheaper competiton from other countries after the war.

Today South Shields has reinvented itself as a seaside resort. It has a number of historic and recreational attractions.

St Hilda's Church, South Shields: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Hilda%27s_Church_at_South_Shields.jpg
Author: Roger Cornfoot

Visiting South Shields

From London, take the A1(M) motorway until it forks. Continue on the A194. which goes to South Shields.

Places of Interest in South Shields

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.