South Shields

Our stunning coastline boasts Marsden Grotto, with a smugglers’ den in the cliffs, created by Jack ‘Blaster’ Bates, a quarryman, in 1782 – reputedly one of the most haunted pubs in the country.

“Fishwife” and poet Dolly Peel dabbled in smuggling alcohol, tobacco, and budgerigars. She joined a Royal Navy ship as her son and husband were press-ganged during the Napoleonic wars. Nursing wounded sailors, she was pardoned for her misdemeanours, returning home as a heroine.

John Simpson Kirkpatrick was a stretcher bearer with the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance in Gallipoli. As a lad, he worked on South Shields beaches giving donkey rides. At Anzac Cove, he carried wounded soldiers to safety using donkeys for three gruelling weeks before dying under machine-gun fire. His statue stands in town, with donkey, the centre of our annual Anzac Day service.

At St Hilda’s Church, my great-great grandfather William Wouldhave was parish clerk. He invented the lifeboat, enjoyed a drink, and used colourful language. Some say I have inherited his feisty ways!

Muhammad Ali brought his family to South Shields in 1977. Local John Walker travelled to Ali’s ranch in America unannounced, inviting him to South Shields to support local charities. Muhammad Ali spent two days here, having his marriage blessed at a local mosque. A film was made about the visit, The King of South Shields.

Arbeia Roman Fort is rumoured to be the birthplace of Northumbrian King Oswin. HQ for a Roman Emperor, home to hundreds of troops, on our Lawe Top.

South Shields has everything: seaside, green landscapes and a people who know what they want – it hasn’t elected a Conservative MP since 1837!

Our history is rich, our future will be too and – as son of South Shields, Eric Idle, said – we “always look on the bright side of life’’.