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King's
Meadows Before the
mid 19th Century much the Tyne was only navigable
at high tide and there were numerous sand banks and
islands. The invention of the steam dredger had a
massive effect on the use of the river and it was
extensively dredged to allow ships access to
Elswick and Dunston. Up to the 1860's this area was
a rural riverscape, the main feature being the
King's Meadows a 30 acre island. Complete with a
Pub, the Countess of Coventry, the island was a
popular festival venue for horse racing and
regattas and the landlady kept cows to supply the
village of Elswick with milk. After
the construction of the Swing Bridge at
Newcastle shipbuilding became possible at
Armstrong's Elswick Works, this photogragh
taken from the King's Meadows shows their
first warship the Austrian fast cruiser
Panther ready to be launched. (Not the
rowing boat!) By
1890 the island had been dredged away but
a hundred years later the industrial need
for a shipping channel has gone and the
river is once again forming banks of silt
that could grow into islands. Riverscape
proposes the reconstruction of King's Meadow as a
place of recreation and a bridging point between
Elswick and Dunston. It could also be rivived as a
destination for world class boat racing from the
Tyne Bridge that once made the Tyne famous in the
Victorian era.
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