‘Our City, Our County’ is published this year to mark the centenary of one of the oldest civic organisations in the North East: The Northumberland and Newcastle Society. It is ‘a love letter’ to Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland from those who live, work, and visit here.
The Northumberland and Newcastle Society was founded in 1924 to preserve the best of the city’s and county’s landscape, heritage and culture for future generations to enjoy. The subjects of the Society’s centennial celebration edition are some of the North East’s best-loved places, and some hidden gems.
The society’s region-wide quest for contributors
In October 2023, the Society launched a public appeal to discover which buildings and structures in the city and county matter most to people and why. The result is a well-illustrated and appealing compilation of personal views.
Among the structures featured is Kielder Viaduct, which the society purchased in 1969 to protect it from demolition and which now acts as a focal point for a wide range of outdoor activities in the wider Kielder Forest.
Others are less well known, from The Old Police Station in Bedlington and the 15th century tomb of Sir Ralph Grey, at Chillingham, to a very unusual, Grade II-listed mini-post office disguised as a telephone kiosk in Whitley Bay.
“We were overwhelmed with the response,” said editor Suzanne Stanley, “from people from right across Tyneside and Northumberland.”
“They suggested such a variety of places, some of which are very well known and others which are far less so, but which matter enormously to them for personal or professional reasons.”
Much more than a guide book
Editor Suzanne Stanley explained further:
“There are plenty of standard guide books already, so we hoped to direct readers away from the obvious much-travelled highway of architectural excellence, and onto the byways where less familiar treasures lie.
“Inevitably, many famous buildings are here, because people do have strong associations with them, and because it would be perverse to leave them out of a book representing our region.
“But most of all, we wanted contributors’ stories and they are a delight to read.”
In his foreword for the book, Matt Ridley, writer, businessman and facilitator of Northumberlandia at Blagdon, wrote:
“Fabulous as the beaches and hills of our region are, they would be greatly less alluring without man-made embellishments: Bamburgh without a castle, the Whin Sill without the Roman wall, the Tyne without bridges would all be much the poorer.”
Just in time for Christmas
This celebratory book about special places in the hearts and minds of people in the North East is comprehensively indexed, and would grace any bookshelf or library.
Our City, Our County: an anthology: a celebration of the first 100 years of the Northumberland and Newcastle Society, costs £20 and can be ordered here.
PS:
We couldn’t resist adding a favourite place of our own: the grave of William Beveridge KCB, British economist and social reformer in the churchyard at Throckrington in Northumberland.
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