Whitley Bay

Whitley Bay
St. Mary's Lighthouse at Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay  Whitley Bay shown within Tyne and Wear
Population	9,416 (2011.North Tyneside Ward)[1]
OS grid reference	NZ3572
Metropolitan borough	North Tyneside
Metropolitan county	Tyne and Wear
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WHITLEY BAY
Postcode district	NE25, NE26
Dialling code	0191
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Tyne and Wear
Ambulance	North East
EU Parliament	North East England
UK Parliament	Tynemouth
List of places UK England Tyne and Wear

Coordinates: 55°02′44″N 1°26′39″W / 55.0456°N 1.4443°W / 55.0456; -1.4443

Whitley Bay is a seaside town on the north east coast of England. Historically in Northumberland, it is now part of Tyne and Wear.

Transport

Whitley Bay is around nine miles northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Tyne and Wear Metro line runs through the town with stations near the town centre (Whitley Bay), as well as in Monkseaton, West Monkseaton and Cullercoats. A Metro journey to Newcastle city centre takes around 25 minutes.

History

Whitley was first mentioned about the year 1100 when King Henry I conferred it with other possessions on the Priory of Tynemouth being referred to in ancient documents and maps before that date as Witelei, Wyteley, Hwyteleg, Witelithe, Wheteley, Wytheleye, Whitlaw, Whitlathe and Whitlag. Whitley is also referred to in the charters of King Henry II, King Richard I and King John, confirming to the priors their possessions and liberties.

Whitley was connected with the Crusades when Pope Nicholas IV granted to Edward I the first-fruits and tenths of all ecclesiastical possessions for six years to defray the expenses of an expedition to the Holy Land. A valuation was made of the spiritual and temporal goods of the Priory on 26 March 1292, when the yearly rents from Whitley were returned as 20 shillings, and the tithes as 9 marks.

About the beginning of the 14th century, the manor of Whitley was held from the Prior of Tynemouth by a singular feudal service called the Conveyes which seems to have originated from John de Whitley. Richard de Emeldon, eighteen times Mayor of Newcastle and seven times its representative in Parliament, was the Lord of the Manor of Whitley in 1333.

On 9 April 1345, Edward III granted Gilbert de Whitley a licence to crenellate his manor house at Whitley. To crenellate a house was to place battlements on it. Before this could be done, the sanction of the Crown was often sought. Although battlements were often largely symbolic, in this instance it is probably an indication of the degree of insecurity felt even this far south during the Edwardian wars with Scotland. The licence and crenellations were an indication of status. Only 2% of the small tower houses of the sort Gilbert built had licences. The 'sanction' of the crown was a sought-after bonus, but not a requirement.^[2]

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Whitley was held under the Crown for a time. By a grant of Edward VI dated 8 December 1551, it came into the hands of Dudley, Earl of Warwick who was created Duke of Northumberland. It remained in the Percy family until 1632 after which time the area appeared to be let at a yearly rental to various holders until it came into the possession of the Duke of Somerset on his marriage in 1682 with Elizabeth, the heiress of Joscelyn, the 11th Earl of Northumberland. Whitley subsequently passed by inheritance to her granddaughter Elizabeth Seymour who had married Sir Hugh Smithson, a Yorkshire baronet, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland. Whitley has since been retained by descendants and the present Duke of Northumberland is the Lord of the Manor and principal landowner.

Monkseaton, which forms the greater part of the north west of the district, is also very old and its industries were common with those of Whitley being chiefly coalmining and limestone quarrying.

19th Century to present

Whitley Bay Promenade

From the late 19th century and into the 20th century the adverse effects of the decline of local coalmining and dependent industries in the area were ameliorated by the emergence of Whitley as a seaside holiday resort. The opening of the North Tyne Loop railway line in 1882, connecting the coastal villages to Newcastle, benefited the tourism industry. The line followed the route of the present Metro line, and included a new railway station in the centre of the town, and another at Monkseaton. Both stations are still in use as Metro stations.

The Whitley Bay Parish Church is St. Paul's Church. The church was provided by the Duke of Northumberland when the old parish of Tynemouth was divided in 1860. It was consecrated in 1864.^[3]

The Whitley and Monkseaton Local Board was established in 1873. The district of the Local Board became the Urban District of Whitley and Monkseaton.

The town was known as Whitley until the 1890s, at which time the confusion of the name with Whitby, in North Yorkshire, was often causing mail to be misdirected.^[4] The final straw came in September 1901 when an ex-resident died in Edinburgh and his body was to be buried in St Paul's churchyard, Whitley. Unfortunately, the body was transported to Whitby by mistake delaying the funeral.^[5] The council asked residents for suggestions for a new name, the most popular choice was Whitley Bay. It has since been known as Whitley Bay, but many residents still refer to the town as 'Whitley'.

British airmen man a 75mm field gun during training at No. 2 RAF Regiment School, Whitley Bay (then Northumberland), UK.

On 1 January 1944 the Whitley and Monkseaton Urban District became the Whitley Bay Urban District and on 5 March 1954 it was granted its Royal Charter of Incorporation as the Borough of Whitley Bay. The charter was presented by HRH The Princess Royal at a ceremony in the town on 14 April 1954.^[6]

The Local Government Act 1972 abolished the borough, with Hartley in the north of the borough going to Blyth Valley district in Northumberland, and the main part including Whitley and Monkseaton forming part of the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside in the Tyne and Wear area. The town is in the constituency of Tynemouth.

The Links

Media

The local weekly newspaper, The News Guardian, is published by Johnston Press and printed on the presses of the Sunderland Echo in nearby Sunderland. The alternative free weekly paper is the Chronicle Extra, formerly known as the Herald and Post.

Education

There are two high schools in the town, Whitley Bay High School and Monkseaton High School. The town is one of the few remaining in the UK that operates on a 3-tier system, with first, middle and high schools.

Regeneration

Abandoned (and now demolished) amusement arcade on the seafront

The Spanish City Dome

On 20 February 2007, North Tyneside Council announced plans to regenerate the Spanish City and Whitley Bay. At the core of the plan was the redevelopment of the Spanish City site with its iconic dome, completed in 1912. For many years it was home to a theme park with rides and attractions, until falling into decay following the closure of the theme park in 2000.^[7]

Recent civic improvements include, a skatepark opened in the Panama Dip in 2008, a children's play park on Whitley Park in 2007, refurbishment of the swimming pool and the Playhouse both re-opened in 2009.^[8] A new library (behind the main street in the town centre) with a tourist information office, and joint service centre on the site of York Road was completed in 2013.^[9]

Sport

Football

Hillheads Park, home of Whitley Bay F.C.

Whitley Bay F.C. play at the town's Hillheads Park, adjacent to the ice rink. The Hillheads stadium in the west of the town and holds approximately 4,500 spectators with 250 seats in the main stand. Now playing in the Northern League Division One, the club won the FA Vase (amateur FA Cup) in 2002, beating Tiptree United at Villa Park, Birmingham. They reached the FA Vase final again in May 2009, when Whitley Bay beat Glossop North End 2 – 0 at the new Wembley Stadium. They retained the cup the following year by beating Wroxham 6 – 1 at Wembley in the final of the 2009/10 FA Vase. In May 2011 they made it an unprecedented three in a row, and four wins in total this time beating Coalville Town 3-2, again at Wembley.

Ice Hockey

Whitley Bay Ice Rink is home of Whitley Warriors Ice Hockey Club. The team enjoyed great success together with local rivals Durham Wasps at a national level during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Rugby Union

Whitley Bay Rockcliff RFC play at the Lovaine Avenue ground in Hillheads. Founded in 1887 as Rockcliff RFC, and still generally known as "Rockcliff", they were originally based on the seafront in the Rockcliff area of the town, prior to moving along the seafront to the site later occupied by the Spanish City. In 1907 they moved to the present site in Lovaine Avenue. The years immediately after formation and up to the First World War were the most successful in the club's history, when they were one of the strongest sides in England, beating the world famous Barbarians in 1892, and producing a number of international players including E.W "Little Billy" Taylor, who captained England in the 1890s. The introduction of the league structures in the late 1980s saw the club climb into the north east leagues in the early 1990s, and the best known player of this era is Paul van Zandvliet who went on to play for the premiership winning Newcastle Falcons. The club now plays in the Durham and Northumberland Division 2.

Speedway

The Rockcliff ground was the home of the short-lived Dirt Track or Speedway venture in the spring of 1929. The first venue on Tyneside, it was not as popular as the sister track at Gosforth Stadium which opened early summer and was closed after only two months, when the operator Tyneside Speedways Ltd went into liquidation.^[10]

Religion

There are a number of Christian churches, of various denominations, in the town.

Baptist

• Whitley Bay Baptist Church
• Whitley Lodge Baptist Church

Catholic

St Edward's

Church of England

• St Alban's, Earsdon
• St Mary's, Monkseaton
• St Paul's
• St Peter's, Monkseaton

Free Church

• The Bay Church
• Acorn Community Church

Methodist

• St John's

United Reformed Church

• St Andrew's, Monkseaton

Notable residents, past and present

• Gladstone Adams^[11] – inventor of the windscreen wiper and former mayor
• Michael Bridges – former Newcastle United and Sunderland football player^[12]
• Ann Cleeves - author^[13]
• Denis Coe - politician
• John Coxon - footballer
• Graham Fenton – footballer^[14]
• Toby Flood – England rugby union international^[15]
• John Gilroy – artist of Guinness advertisement fame^[15]
• Tom Hadaway – playwright^[16]
• W. E. Johns – author of Biggles (c. 1925)^[15]
• Ian La Frenais – comedy writer (The Likely Lads, Porridge, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet)^[17]
• Graham Laws – Football League referee^[18]
• John Middleton – actor (Emmerdale)^[19]
• Peter Ramage – Queens Park Rangers and former Newcastle United player – former pupil of Whitley Bay High School^[20]
• Lucy Ratcliffe – won the first series of the Living TV programme Britain's Next Top Model^[21]
• Andrea Riseborough – actress^[22]
• Laura Spence – Whitley Bay state school student rejected by Oxford University who later attended Harvard University in the USA
• Hilton Valentine – guitarist, The Animals^[15]
• Shirley Webb - athlete
• Emily Hilda Young – novelist^[23]

In popular culture

Whitley Bay Ice Rink is the filming location of the sitcom Thin Ice

The 2006 BBC sitcom Thin Ice was filmed in the town^[24] and at Whitley Bay Ice Rink.^[25]

The town features in 2013 film The Cullercoats Fishlass, produced by local company ACT 2 CAM, in which Charles Elderton tries to persuade the Spanish City owners to let his troupe perform there, despite the Sunday licensing laws.

The 2000 film Purely Belter included scenes filmed at the bingo hall adjacent to the Spanish City Dome. Some of the external shots show what remained of the theme park at that time.

An episode of the North East-based ITV television series Vera, "Protected", was filmed in the town.

See also

• Bands and musicians from Yorkshire and North East England

References