page_title: Blyth, Northumberland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Blyth, Northumberland / History
caption_attribution_description: English: First edition Ordnance Survey map of Blyth, circa 1860
context_page_description: Blyth is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately 13 miles northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne. It has a population of about 37,000, as of 2011.
  The port of Blyth dates from the 12th century, but the development of the modern town only began in the first quarter of the 18th century. The main industries which helped the town prosper were coal mining and shipbuilding, with the salt trade, fishing and the railways also playing an important role. These industries have largely vanished, but the port still thrives, shipping paper and pulp from Scandinavia for the newspaper industries of England and Scotland.
  The town was seriously affected when its principal industries went into decline, and it has undergone much regeneration since the early 1990s. The Keel Row Shopping Centre, opened in 1991, brought major high street retailers to Blyth, and helped to revitalise the town centre. The market place has recently been re-developed, with the aim of attracting further investment to the town.
context_section_description: The place-name Blyth is first attested in 1130 as Blida, and takes its name from the river Blyth. The river's name comes from the Old English adjective blīðe meaning 'gentle' or 'merry'. The town of Blyth is referred to as Blithmuth in 1236 and Blithemuth in 1250. Had this name persisted, the town would today be referred to as "Blythmouth", on the analogy of Tynemouth to the south.
  Little is known of the early development of the Blyth area.  The oldest archaeological find is an antler hammer dating from the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age period, which was found at Newsham in 1979.
  Human skulls, a spearhead and a sword dating from the Bronze Age were found in the river in 1890, as well as a bronze axe which was found at South Beach in 1993, and a dagger found at Newsham.  Although there is no conclusive evidence of a Roman presence in the area, an earthwork shown on early mapping of the area, at the location of present-day Freehold Street, is said to have been a Roman camp, but it has also been argued that it may be of Norsemen origin or date from the Civil War.  Debate also surrounds a mosaic which was found near Bath Terrace.  The strongest evidence so far has been a single coin, dating from the reign of the Emperor Constans (AD337–350), which was found during excavations for a dry dock. Also four Roman coins were found when digging an air raid shelter in a back garden on Chestnut Avenue.
  Between the 12th and 18th centuries, there were several small settlements and some industrial activity in the area.  The principal industries during this period were coal mining, fishing and the salt trade.  Shipbuilding in the area dates from 1748.
  The modern town of Blyth began to develop in the first quarter of the 18th century.  Up until 1716, the land around the Blyth area—the Newsham Estate—was owned by the Earls of Derwentwater, but when the third Earl, James Radclyffe, was executed for his part in the Jacobite rising of 1715, the land was forfeited to the crown.  On 11 July 1723, the Lordship of Newsham was put up for sale by the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates at their office in the Inner Temple, London.  The land was bought by Matthew White and his brother-in-law Richard Ridley.  From the 12th century, most port activities were on the north side of the river, but under White and Ridley the first new quays and houses were built on the south side, and from here the port began to prosper.  By 1730, a coaling quay, a ballast quay, a pilots' watch house and a lighthouse had all been built at Blyth harbour.  In 1765 the first breakwater was constructed, and in 1788 the first staith with an elevated loading point was erected.  Deep mines were sunk at Cowpen Colliery and Cowpen Square in 1796 and 1804 respectively, and by 1855, a quarter of a million tons of coal was being shipped from Blyth, rising to three million tons by 1900.  The only industry not to survive during this prosperous time was the salt trade, which was heavily taxed during the 18th and early-19th centuries.  During the Napoleonic Wars, the tax was increased to provide funds for the military and, even though the tax was abolished in 1825, the industry went into terminal decline.  Having had fourteen salt pans at the beginning of the 18th century, exporting over 1,000 tons of salt annually, Blyth's salt industry closed in 1876, with the destruction of the last salt pan.
  From the mid-19th century, several important events occurred which allowed the port of Blyth to rapidly expand.  First, in 1847, a railway line was constructed, connecting Blyth to collieries at Seghill.  This line combined with the existing line between Seghill and North Tyneside to form the Blyth and Tyne Railway. In 1853, the Blyth Harbour and Docks Board was formed, then in 1858 the Harbour Act was passed allowing dredging of the harbour to begin.  In 1882, the formation of the Blyth Harbour Commission led to the building of new coal loading staiths, as well as the construction of the South Harbour.
  As trade in Blyth continued to grow, so did the population.  Development of the Cowpen Quay a
caption: A map of Blyth, circa 1860: the old part of the town is to the right; the houses of Waterloo and Cowpen Quay are to the bottom-left and top-left respectively. Also depicted are "the Gut" (or "Slake") and the first Blyth railway station.
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