Step back to old Blyth, Northumberland, in 10 archive picture postcard images
Our 10 picture postcards, courtesy of local historian Norman Dunn, recall striking scenes around Blyth during the first half of the last century
Our 10 archive picture postcards recall Blyth in South East Northumberland, the way it used to be.
The town grew on the back of coal mining, coal exportation, shipbuilding, fishing, railways and the salt trade. By the middle of the 20th century, it was one of the busiest coal ports in Europe at a time when Northumberland’s pits were incredibly productive.
However, decline was on the way. The Beeching report closed the railway into Blyth in 1964, and the following two decades saw the area’s pits close one by one. As with virtually every other town in the industrial North East, recent decades have been challenging for Blyth - but there has since been much regeneration. Today, Blyth harbour is popular with pleasure craft, and the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club has its base in the south harbour.
READ MORE : Unseen photos of Newcastle United back in European action 45 years ago
Our 10 images, courtesy of local historian Norman Dunn, recall striking scenes around Blyth during the first half of the last century. Among them, we see the Market Place in the mid 1920s with the silent film Splendid Road showing at the local cinema, the aftermath of a fire that gutted a shop in the town in 1905, and the busy harbour and coal staiths in the years between the two World Wars.
Meanwhile, Norman, from Hebburn, has been busy over the last couple of years producing a series of photographic books focussing on the history of his native South Tyneside. The books are titled: Good Old Jarrow; Good Old Hebburn; Good old Bill Quay, Pelaw, Wardley, Heworth & Felling; Good old Shields; Jarrow & Hebburn School Photos; Our Families At Work Through The 1900s; with the latest offering being Good Old Hebburn part II.
Each book is on sale for £15, direct from the author. To buy copies, email norman@dunn247.co.uk or telephone 07958 120972. If people live locally, the books can be picked up personally.
READ MORE
End of the line for the Tyneside railway station that was 'Britain’s least attractive'
Fascinating film footage of the River Tyne at Gateshead and Newcastle in the mid 1960s
111 Places along Hadrian's Wall That You Shouldn't Miss - a new book reveals all
'It Started With A Train Ride' - a new film doc about World War II evacuees from Wallsend
The Newcastle city centre shoe shop that traded for nearly 130 years
Blyth in 10 picture postcards (Courtesy: Norman Dunn)
Beaconsfield Street, Blyth, early 20th century
1 of 10
St Cuthbert's Church, Blyth, early 20th century
2 of 10
Blyth Ferry during World War II times
3 of 10![]()
Market Place, Blyth, in the mid 1920s
4 of 10
