Dunston, Tyne and Wear

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Dunston
Tyne and Wear UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Dunston
Location within Tyne and Wear
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Gateshead
Postcode district NE11
Dialling code 0191
Police Northumbria
Fire Tyne and Wear
Ambulance North East
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Tyne and Wear
54°57′07″N1°38′20″W / 54.952°N 1.639°W / 54.952; -1.639
Dunston Staiths and river front, 2018 Staithes Dunston.jpg
Dunston Staiths and river front, 2018

Dunston is a western area of the town of Gateshead on the south bank of the River Tyne, in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, North East England (into which it was absorbed in 1974). Dunston had a population of 18,326 at the 2011 Census.

Contents

History

It has been speculated that Dunston started its existence as a farm or estate of a man named Dunn. [1] Historically part of County Durham, Dunston was first mentioned in 1328. Salmon fishing and farming were important industries in Dunston from at least the 14th century. Coal mining on a small-scale was also important but by the 17th century, the proximity of the river aided the development of large-scale coal mining in the village. During the Great Tyne Flood of 1771 villagers had to be rescued by boat from the roofs and upper stories of their houses. [2]

Area

Dunston is served by Dunston railway station on the Tyne Valley Line. [3]

Dunston is split into two areas separated by the A1 dual carriageway. Much of the area south of the A1 is known as Dunston Hill. For electoral purposes, the northern section is grouped along with the Teams area to form Dunston and Teams ward, while the southern section is combined with parts of Whickham, forming Dunston Hill and Whickham East.

To the west of Dunston is the site of Dunston Power Station, now demolished. The site is now home to Costco, with the MetroCentre (at this time the largest shopping and leisure complex in Europe), occupying the former site of the station's ash ponds. [4] The Gateshead-based Go-Ahead Group has constructed a new bus depot to replace its Sunderland Road and Winlaton depots on the eastern part of the power station site. Another Dunston landmark was the Derwent Tower (commonly known as the "Dunston Rocket"), a tower block that was once the highest building in Gateshead. It was designed by the Owen Luder Partnership and completed in 1973. [5] A well-known structure that had appeared in two films, it was demolished in 2012. It had always proved unpopular with residents, and fallen into a poor condition: Gateshead Council decided that the renovation costs would be prohibitive. [6] As of 2016, the remainder of the late 1960s Tower Court development was being gradually replaced by new housing and shops. Luder also designed the similarly maligned Trinity Centre Multi-Storey Car Park (known for its appearance in the 1971 gangster thriller Get Carter , and now demolished) in Gateshead town centre.

On 6 June 1993 the IRA attacked a gas holder in the nearby area of Low Team. The damage was limited, and no one was injured. [7]

Sports

Dunston has one sports team which is association football club called Dunston UTS who currently play in the Northern Premier League Division One North West.

Dunston Staiths and the 1990 Garden Festival

Notable people

Footballers Paul Gascoigne [8] and Ray Hudson, [9] and the lead singer of AC/DC Brian Johnson, [10] all spent their formative years in Dunston. Champion rower and boat-builder Harry Clasper was born in Dunston, and Victoria Hopper, the celebrated Canadian-born British stage and film actress and singer, was raised in Dunston.

Related Research Articles

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Dunston Power Station refers to a pair of adjacent coal-fired power stations in the North East of England, now demolished. They were built on the south bank of the River Tyne, in the western outskirts of Dunston in Gateshead. The two stations were built on a site which is now occupied by the MetroCentre. The first power station built on the site was known as Dunston A Power Station, and the second, which gradually replaced it between 1933 and 1950, was known as Dunston B Power Station. The A Station was, in its time, one of the largest in the country, and as well as burning coal had early open cycle gas turbine units. The B Station was the first of a new power station design, and stood as a landmark on the Tyne for over 50 years. From the A Station's opening in 1910 until the B Station's demolition in 1986, they collectively operated from the early days of electricity generation in the United Kingdom, through the industry's nationalisation, and until a decade before its privatisation.

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The Stella power stations were a pair of now-demolished coal-fired power stations in the North East of England that were a landmark in the Tyne valley for over 40 years. The stations stood on either side of a bend of the River Tyne: Stella South power station, the larger, near Blaydon in Gateshead, and Stella North power station near Lemington in Newcastle. Their name originated from the nearby Stella Hall, a manor house close to Stella South that by the time of their construction had been demolished and replaced by a housing estate. They operated from shortly after the nationalisation of the British electrical supply industry until two years after the Electricity Act of 1989, when the industry passed into the private sector.

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The Gateshead Garden Festival was the fourth of the United Kingdom's five national garden festivals. Held between May and October 1990, in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, it lasted 157 days, and received over three million visitors. Attractions included public art displays, a Ferris wheel, and dance, music, theatre and sporting events. The site comprised four areas: Norwood, Riverside, Dunston and Eslington Park, and several modes of transport were provided around the site: a monorail which ran between Norwood and Eslington, a narrow gauge steam railway between Dunston and Redheugh, and a road train which covered the entire site. A ferry across the River Tyne, between Dunston Staithes and Newcastle Quayside, was also provided.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derwent Tower</span> Demolished apartment building in Dunston, England

Derwent Tower was a 29-storey residential apartment building in Dunston, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, opened in 1972. Due to its unusual shape it was nicknamed the "Dunston Rocket" during construction and the name remained with locals throughout its life. It was demolished in 2012.

Derwenthaugh Coke Works was a coking plant on the River Derwent near Swalwell in Gateshead. The works were built in 1928 on the site of the Crowley's Iron Works, which had at one time been the largest iron works in Europe. The coke works was closed and demolished in the late 1980s, and replaced by Derwenthaugh Park.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandling Junction Railway</span> Former railway in England

The Brandling Junction Railway was an early railway in County Durham, England. It took over the Tanfield Waggonway of 1725 that was built to bring coal from Tanfield to staiths on the River Tyne at Dunston. The Brandling Junction Railway itself opened in stages from 1839, running from Gateshead to Wearmouth and South Shields. Wearmouth was regarded at the time as the "Sunderland" terminal.

References

  1. "The Team Valley : Kibblesworth to Dunston".
  2. "History of Dunston - Gateshead History, Felling History, Low Fell History".
  3. "More trains call at Dunston and Blaydon". Nexus.
  4. V5. "intu Metrocentre, Tyne and Wear Shopping Centre". V5.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. SINE Project: Derwent Tower Archived 20 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Tyneside Dunston Rocket demolition begins". BBC News.
  7. "Damages bid over bombing arrests". The Northern Echo. 20 January 2003. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
  8. English-Football.org.uk: Paul Gascoigne Archived 25 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  9. "D.C's Leading Man". The Washington Post .
  10. "AC/DC rock star Brian Johnson tells all in autobiography". North East Life.