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A brief History of Newcastle upon Tyne

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Behind the protection of these walls, Newcastle developed during the Middle Ages as a merchant and trading community; the most important commodity in the period was wool, but markets in many other types of goods developed. The growth of the town was aided by royal favours and charters. In 1216 the burgesses gained the right to have a mayor and in 1400 the town became a county with its own sheriff. Much care was also taken by the burgesses to suppress the aspirations of other – potentially rival – communities along the Tyne. Newcastle’s control of river trade, which did not end until 1850, brought vast wealth.

Much of this wealth was derived from the coal trade. The phrase “taking coals to Newcastle” indicates the dominant importance of this product in the town’s economy. By the end of the fourteenth century the sea coal trade with London and other ports had been established. Newcastle’s control of the river, founded on royal charters, meant that all coal mined on both banks of the Tyne was shipped through its port. Between 1565 and 1625 the coal trade increased twelve-fold, saving Newcastle from the slump which affected other towns as the wool trade declined.

There was a set-back during the Civil War when the town was besieged for three months. It fell to a Scottish army in 1644 and the coal trade was severely disrupted. Prosperity was regained remarkably quickly after the Restoration: by the mid -1660s Newcastle was the fourth largest provincial town in England in terms of population. In this period other industries and trades such as iron, salt and glass joined coal as producers of wealth.

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