Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Newbiggin-by-the-Sea | |
  Newbiggin-by-the-Sea shown within Northumberland |
|
| Population | 7,100 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | Wansbeck |
| Shire county | Northumberland |
| Region | North East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NEWBIGGIN-BY-THE-SEA |
| Postcode district | NE64 |
| Dialling code | 01670 |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Northumberland |
| Ambulance | North East |
| European Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament | Wansbeck |
| List of places: UK • England • Northumberland | |
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is a small town in Northumberland, England, lying on the North Sea coast. Once an important port for shipping grain and a coal mining town, it is still a small fishing port making use of traditional Coble boats.
The town was at the end of the first telegraph cable from Scandinavia in 1868. Attractions in Newbiggin today include the fourteenth century parish church, and a small heritage centre.
John Braine was working at the library in Newbiggin (1954-56) when he wrote his best-selling Room at the Top.
Newbiggin is one of Northumberlands best location for watching the North Sea seabird passage during Spring and Autumn.
Until 2004 Newbiggin was host to an annual street fair, that attracted thousands of people every year, the huge fair that expanded over many years, in its final years the fair was set out in the following format. Starting at the beginning of the shopping area of front street up to the Cresswell Arms public house flowing in to church point car park and continuing along the seafront promenade, the lifeboat house and boat yard beacame the music venue, a stage replaced the boats and the lifeboat house opend its doors serving food and afternoon tea, over the years many celebrities entertained the crowds, some of the famous appearances were made by Slade, Leo Sayer and TV show Gladiators star Michael Van Wijk along with many others.
Now complete, is a £10,000,000 renovation to rebuild and improve Newbiggin's rapidly eroding beach. This involved importing 500,000 tonnes of sand from Skegness, delivered by barge and deposited on the beach through a pipe approximately 1m in diameter. a new offshore breakwater was instaled to accompany the matching breakwater on the opposite side of the bay. Also installed is a brass statue by sculptor Sean Henry, named Couple, anchored in the centre of the bay.[1]
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| Major settlements in Northumberland |  |
|---|---|
| Alnwick | Ashington | Bamburgh | Bedlington | Berwick-upon-Tweed | Blyth | Cramlington | Haltwhistle | Hexham | Morpeth | Newbiggin-by-the-Sea | Ponteland | Prudhoe | Rothbury | Seahouses | Wooler | |
