Percy Main | |
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Metropolitan county | |
Postcode district | NE29 |
Post town | North Shields |
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Percy Main is a small village absorbed into North Shields, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it is now part of Tyne and Wear.
It is named after the colliery belonging to the Percy family, which was located just south of the railway, near St. John's church. The colliery was sunk in 1799 & went to a depth of 247 metres to the renowned Main seam, which was considered the best coal for household use. The village grew up around it to serve the pit, which eventually closed in 1895. In 1872, the population was recorded as 3,953, residing in 786 houses. The inhabitants worked mainly in the neighbouring docks and other industries. [1]
During World War II, children from the village were evacuated to Hexham, Northumberland.
Sport is popular in the village, with Percy Main Cricket Club playing at St John's Green in the Northumberland and Tyneside Senior Cricket League, with their next door neighbours Percy Main Amateurs F.C. playing at Purvis Park in the Northern Football Alliance Premier Division. A hedge separates the two teams. [2]
The village's main and only modern-day railway station is the Percy Main Metro station.
The original footbridge from the station is preserved at the National Railway Museum, York. A passenger station opened on the Newcastle and North Shields Railway around 1840. [3] It closed on 11 August 1980 to allow conversion for the Metro, before re-opening on 14 November 1982. [4]
In 2020, Nexus constructed a new depot for the Tyne and Wear Metro on a former landfill site immediately to the east of the village. [5] The depot will house rolling stock while the South Gosforth Traction Maintenance Depot is reconstructed in anticipation of a new fleet in late 2021. Originally intended to be a temporary measure, upgrades to the Metro system around South Shields may mean the depot is made a permanent feature.
Go Ahead Group has a bus depot on Norham Road [6] and a number of its services pass through the village.
Film directors and brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott formed their first film production company under the name Percy Main Productions. Their father grew up in the village. [7] Thelma & Louise is a notable film during this time. In 1996 they renamed their production company to Scott Free, and finally to Scott Free Productions.
Percy Main is part of a Church of England parish that also includes Meadow Well, East Howdon and the Royal Quays.
The parish church, Tynemouth Percy St John, was built for the Duke of Northumberland in 1862, and is Grade II listed. [8] Designed by Anthony Salvin, it is built in sandstone and was re-ordered around 2000, to incorporate use as a community centre. [9] Located on St John's Terrace, the church shares a vicar with the nearby St Peter's, on the Balkwell estate. [10] The contemporary vicarage, at the junction of Waterville Road and Norham Road, was sold in the 1940s and converted into a pub, now The Redburn. A new vicarage was built adjacent to the church.
The Diocese of Newcastle's main administrative office is located at Church House, formerly Percy St John's Primary School. [11] The religious resources centre the diocese shares with the Diocese of Durham is also on the site. The earlier school it replaced was located on the site of St John's Court, immediately to the north of the church. Excess bricks from the building of the Court were used to construct a hall to the rear of the church. The 2000 re-ordering included re-cladding of the original brickwork, obscuring this.
The village, at one time, also had primitive Methodist and Baptist chapels, though these no longer exist. [12]
Percy Main Primary School is located in the village. [13] After a short inspection by Ofsted in 2016, the school was rated as Good. [14]
Norham High School, providing secondary education, is located a little to the north. In 2016, a full Ofsted inspection found that the school Requires Improvement, however this was downgraded to inadequate in 2018, leading to its placement in special measures. A monitoring inspection the following year confirmed that the remedial action was having a positive result, though the school remains in special measures. [15]
The village is around a mile and a half south west of the centre of North Shields. The hamlet of East Howdon is almost immediately south.
The large Meadow Well estate borders the village to the north. The portion of the estate south of the Metro line, and to the east of Percy Main, was redeveloped as Riverside Park in the early 1990s.
The Royal Quays Outlet Centre and Northumbrian Water's treatment works lie between the village and the River Tyne.
Redburn Park Medical Centre is located just to the north of the Metro station. [16]
Tyne and Wear is a ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear: Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the north and Newcastle upon Tyne to the north-west. The border county of Northumberland lies further north. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the County Borough of South Shields with the municipal borough of Jarrow and the urban districts of Boldon and Hebburn from County Durham.
North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend.
The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland. It has been described as the "first modern light rail system in the United Kingdom". The system is currently both owned and operated by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (Nexus), thus is fully under public ownership and operation.
South Shields is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman times as Arbeia and as Caer Urfa by the Early Middle Ages. It is the fourth largest settlement in Tyne and Wear, after Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland and Gateshead.
Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around 10 miles (16 km) east of Newcastle upon Tyne. Two notable landmarks are the Spanish City and St. Mary's Lighthouse, the latter on a small island near the town.
Cramlington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland. It is 6 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or Anglo-Saxons.
North Shields is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is 8 miles (13 km) north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth.
Percy Main is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the suburb of Percy Main, North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 14 November 1982, following the opening of the fourth phase of the network, between Tynemouth and St James via Wallsend.
Meadow Well is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the suburbs of Chirton and Meadow Well, North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network as Smith's Park on 14 November 1982, following the opening of the fourth phase of the network, between Tynemouth and St James via Wallsend.
Howdon is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the suburb of Howdon, North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 14 November 1982, following the opening of the fourth phase of the network, between Tynemouth and St James via Wallsend.
Shiremoor is a village in Tyne and Wear, Northern England. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside and formerly governed under Northumberland. In the 2011 census, it was included in the Tynemouth area of Tyneside. It is near the North East Green Belt, which surrounds Tyneside, Wearside and Durham. It is located around 3+1⁄2 miles from Whitley Bay.
Howdon is a largely residential area in the eastern part of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. It consists of High Howdon and the smaller settlement of East Howdon. Much of the High Howdon area was formerly called Willington prior to post-World War II urbanisation. The North Tyneside ward population at the 2011 Census was 11,129.
Willington Quay is an area in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear in northern England. It is on the north bank of the River Tyne, facing Jarrow, and between Wallsend and North Shields. It is served by the Howdon Metro station in Howdon. The area from 2006 onwards has been an area of new housing built on brownfield sites. The house building continues into 2013 and is changing the social and economic balance in the area. The area has also had a make over of the bowling green off Howdon Lane and further warehousing next to the bowling green has been demolished to make way for further new housing. The changes made recently at Willington Quay are now making it an attractive place to live within North Tyneside.
Heworth is a residential area in Gateshead, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is located around 3 miles (4.8 km) from Newcastle upon Tyne, 11 miles (18 km) from Sunderland, and 17 miles (27 km) from Durham. In 2011, Census data for the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council ward of Heworth and Pelaw recorded a total population of 9,100. Until 1974 it was in County Durham.
Newcastle City Centre is the city centre district of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the historical heart of the city and serves as the main cultural and commercial centre of the North East England region. The city centre forms the core of the Tyneside conurbation.
Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan area covering the cities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, as well as North and South Tyneside, Gateshead and Washington.
South Gosforth Traction Maintenance Depot is a vehicle cleaning, maintenance and stabling facility used by the Tyne and Wear Metro, located in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England.
Meadow Well, also known as Meadowell or the Ridges, is a district of North Shields, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it is now part of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan county. The population in 2016 was approximately 11,000.
54°59′53″N1°28′30″W / 54.998°N 1.475°W