Newcastle’s Forth Banks: Then and now
YOU might have read that bad weather is forecast for this coming week. The national press has labelled the incoming cold snap variously as the “beast from the East”, a “snow bomb” and a “Polar vortex”.
All of which sounds like the end of the world is imminent rather than a few snowflakes.
In more measured tones, the Met Office says: “Showers will bring a large variation in amounts of snow across even small areas with some places seeing very little.
“The most likely time for a period of more widespread snow currently looks to be during Tuesday morning.” Forecasters are predicting between 5-10cm of snow near the coast, with temperatures between 0C and 1C. Wednesday and Thursday are also expected to be snowy days with temperatures struggling to rise above freezing. To mark the possible arrival of the white stuff, we’ve dug out a striking picture of snowy Forth Banks in Newcastle in February, 1978. Forty years ago, the Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge was under construction over the River Tyne. It would open two years later. Four decades on, new arrivals on the street include, on the left, the Stephenson Quarter featuring hotel, office and leisure space. On the right, the striking 160-ft flats complex took shape 10 years ago.
Looking further back, Newcastle’s Forth Banks and the surrounding area offers an interesting history.
If by 1900 it was heavily industrialised, from medieval times, the Forth (the name is derived from pasture or shaded place) was a popular recreational area, just outside Newcastle’s Town Wall, where archery, bowling and, later, fairs took place.
The area known as the Forth was described as “the most convenient and delightful promenade in the vicinity of the town”.
Its smoke-free, tree-lined open views across the River Tyne attracted a “fashionable, brilliant, gaily-dressed throng”.
Meanwhile, take care when the “beast from the East” arrives!
The smoke-free, tree-lined views from ‘The Forth’ attracted a “fashionable, brilliant, gailydressed throng”