Wallsend
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Wallsend is also a suburb of the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
  Map sources for Wallsend at grid reference NZ301664
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Wallsend is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend was named as it is situated at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans. The fort of Segedunum can be seen in outline at ground level and a replica Roman bath-house (not in its original position) has been constructed.
Wallsend has a history of shipbuilding and was the home of the Wigham Richardson shipyard, which later amalgamated to form Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, probably best known for building the RMS Mauretania. This express liner held the blue riband, for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, for 22 years.
Other famous ships included the RMS Carpathia which rescued the survivors from the Titanic in 1912, and the icebreaker Krasin (launched as Sviatogor) which rescued the Umberto Nobile expedition on Spitzbergen in 1928, when Roald Amundsen perished. The story is retold in the movie The Red Tent, starring Sean Connery and Peter Finch.
Charles Parsons launched his revolutionary Turbinia here in 1884, thus not only revolutionising the navies of the world, but also, through the large-scale production of affordable electricity, making a significant contribution to the modern age. He features in a BBC film called The Inventor of the Twentieth Century
Russian novelist Yevgeny Zamyatin worked at Swan Hunter in 1916-17, and used it as background for his great anti-utopian work We, which was a major influence on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four
WWII ships built here include HMS Sheffield, HMS Victorious and the flagship of the Home Fleet, HMS King George V. All took part in the sinking of the Bismarck.
The town is home to Wallsend Boys Club, an association football club, which has produced many famous players such as Alan Shearer, Lee Clark, Peter Beardsley and Michael Carrick. It is also hometown and birthplace to internationally successful musician, Sting.
 Wallsend railway station with Latin signs visible |
Wallsend Metro station serves the town and, in honour of the Roman fort, has Latin and English signs.
[edit] History
Several urban sanitary districts were formed in the parish in the late 19th century : Willington Quay, Howdon and Wallsend itself. The first two joined to form the Willington Quay urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, with the portion of the parish outside any urban sanitary district forming the parish of Willington in Tynemouth Rural District. Wallsend became incorporated as a municipal borough in 1901, and in 1910 took over Willington Quay and Willington, and also part of the parish of Longbenton.
