Jarrow The Five Minute Spare Guide

Jarrow is a northern town famous for shipbuilding. Our present-day guide will give you a reason to visit.

Welcome to another Five Minutes Spare travel guide to Great British towns and cities. Today we will cover the northern town of Jarrow, famous for both ironworks, shipbuilding, and marching on London when wages got ridiculous in the 1930s.

That’s a long walk and one which proves the strength, grit, and determination of an entire Northumbrian town. Never visited Jarrow? Now is the time. We aim to make this guide tantalise your adventurer’s spirit, so get ready to be thrilled by England.  Here’s what you need to know about Jarrow.

Early History of the Town

Although the Romans were active in this area, Jarrow didn’t grow up as a town until a few hundred years later. Evidence of a Roman Fort was first theorised by Hodgson, who described it as a three-acre oblong square overlooking the Jarrow Slake. Later excavations showed a few coins and pottery scraps, but no fort. It is possible that the structure he described were remains of earlier people. Much of this area was Brigante land in the pre-Roman period.

The town sprang up thanks to the monastery where Venerable Bede learned. This monastery was where England’s history first met paper, through Bede’s quill. In 750 the town’s name was Gyruum, from Anglo-Saxon for mud or marsh dwellers. By 1228 it had become the Jarrow we know now. Jarrow Abbey came long before the town did. Bede, who also turned the Gospel of John into English, was known as a centre of learning.

Another nearby monastery in Wearmouth gave home to Benedict Biscop, who founded it in 674 AD. This whole area has been an ancient centre of learning for as long as we have written down our history, and we know that because this is where the first person to write down any English history lived, worked, and died. He used Biscop’s extensive library to further the monastery and the town.

The Vikings Pay A Visit

We know that Jarrow was an established centre of learning by the time the Vikings raided Lindisfarne in 794. One single year later, in 794, they had worked out how to sail up the Tyne and invaded Jarrow. There, they found the books they so distrusted and burned them. The Vikings told their stories around a campfire. They thought Christians cast spells when they wrote things down.

To be clear on how venerable the Venerable Bede’s monastery was at Jarrow, the oldest version of the complete bible in Latin was written here. It is now safely stashed at the Laurentian Library in Florence. In 692 Ceolfrid, the warden of Bede until 716, commissioned three copies of the bible to be made. The monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow had become a double monastery by then and teamed up to tackle evil together. Saint Ceolfrid took one of the copies himself to present it to the Pope but died before completing the journey. That’s how it ended up in Florence.

Jarrow During the Medieval Era

Jarrow remained a slow-growing town on the outskirts of the city for hundreds of years. Like most northern towns, it escaped recording in the Domesday Survey of 1086 because King William didn’t have firm control in the north. At least he didn’t do as the Romans did and put up a wall then move on. In 1622 men from Newcastle visited to destroy a ballast shoreline built by Henry Vane in Jarrow.

There were frequent disputes between the Tyne docks people and all the small towns along the river. Newcastle port officials kept gangs of bullies who would go up and down the river and destroy potential ports to make sure the city could keep the tithe money on imports. Later, in 1694, the Dean and Chapter of Durham faced charges for building a wharf at Jarrow Slake and in Westoe, in South Shields. Newcastle even won the case, preventing any future ports from being built in the town.

Jarrow arrived in the coal mining industry earlier than most towns. The first mention of a colliery here is in 1618. It is not thought to be the same Jarrow Colliery as the prominent one of the same name running in the 1800s.

Fun Trivia About Jarrow

In this section of the article, we always pause to shoot the breeze full of fun facts. Jarrow has a long history of socialism and industrial progress. Here are the best other fun facts we could dig up about the place. Helpful hint: they are not always fun facts. We try to keep it light but who can resist the odd murder mystery? Here are Jarrow’s fun (or not-so-fun) facts:

• Jarrow was once the biggest library north of the alps. The man who founded the town travelled far and wide to accumulate an impressive collection of books. Much like Alexandria, the library was sacked. On this occasion, it was the Vikings who did the sacking after hitting Lindisfarne in 793/4.
• Local news calls Jarrow one of the most important historic towns in the world. The monastery of Saint Paul started here in 681 under town founder Benedict Biscop, the town had a monastery containing a church which may be the oldest in the country.
• In the Medieval period, the town of Jarrow made money from salt pans that they cultivated between South Shields and Slake.
• Jarrow is the birthplace of Venerable Bede. Bede was the first person to ever document English history. This makes Jarrow a doubly culturally significant town in the history of the UK.
• In 1936, the shipyard established in Jarrow by Charles Palmer in 1852 closed down. The people were left with no work and families to feed. They marched on London, all the way from the north, to protest against the reluctance of the country’s leaders to help.
• Before it closed, Palmer’s shipyard was the first ever place to add armoured plating to its ships. This revolution went on to change the course of two world wars.

I think we can all agree that Jarrow is a spectacular place when it comes to history books. Let’s get back to the industrial era and find out how much it grew.

The Industrial Period in South Tyneside

The two churches in town come from the Industrial period. The Catholic church opened in 1860 and went through renovations in 1883. The Christ Church protestant church opened its doors in 1868 on Clayton Street to accommodate the growing population of iron founders, coal miners, and shipbuilders. The Jarrow Mine was opened by Simon Temple in 1803 and closed in the 1850s.

In a map of the town from 1856, the area was a few scattered houses and streets, riverside staithes, an engine work, a pottery works, a colliery and a chemical plant. Chemical plants of this age were particularly nasty. The early production of bleach did unspeakable things to the wildlife of an area. To this day there are vast patches of land in England which are still little more than scrubland due to the chemical works. There were alkali works and chemical works at the foot of the Jarrow Slake.

Steam Propulsion

In 1852 Mark Palmer’s shipyard produced the steam-propelled collier named the John Bowes which revolutionised the way the north borough its coal to London. In 1856, his company started building warships, from whence they started adding armour plating.  Palmer was born in South Shields in 1822 and became a notable figure in the area.

He was a ship owner, shipbroker, and then a shipbuilder. His home was at the mansion of Grinkle Park on the Cleveland Coast. In 1872 there was a large influx of Irish workers who helped Palmer with his shipyard and with the local iron foundries. Palmer built nearly 1,000 ships before the company shut its doors. Palmer went on to become the MP for the area in 1874 up until his death in 1907.

The Modern Town of Jarrow

In 1913, 7 million tonnes of coal moved through Tynedock and Jarrow contributed to that.

On December 17^th, 1915, 17 people died in the Jarrow rail disaster. A lineman failed to make the correct signal. The town saw a huge order for naval ships during WWII but the shipyards closed for good in 1980.

Jarrow Town Hall opened its doors in 1902 and was the design of the locally famous South Shields architect, Fred Rennoldson. The two statues that stand nearby are of Mark Palmer, a famous shipbuilder, and two Viking warriors. Even the town’s shopping centre names itself after the invading Vikings. The Vikings were added in 1961, back in the days when people still believed that Vikings dressed like Hagar the Horrible. The shopping centre opened in 1959.

By 1930, the shipbuilding industry in the south was all but gone and much was moved to towns like Jarrow. 80% of all Jarrow worked on the ships so when the industry collapsed there was no trade to back it up with. Up until 1935, the constituency had a Tory in charge. The Tory was ousted by a socialist MP named Ellen Wilkinson. The Labour politician, elected on the back of the Great Depression, saw that there were massive economic problems in the town. David Riley, chairman of the local council, commented about marching the nation’s impoverished unemployed onto the capital.

The Jarrow March

Ellen Wilkinson, the Jarrow Mayor Billy Thompson, and 200 other men marched all the way to London in the Jarrow Crusade. They carried a box with them which contained 11,000 signatures of Jarrow residents. The march ended on October 31^st at Hyde Park. Unfortunately, the march did little more than receive a brief acknowledgement. The exhausted men got a train home but received a hero’s welcome. Their banner and their march have ever since been a symbol of socialism in England and the power people have when they move together.

In 1939 Ellen Wilkinson wrote a book about her time and about the march. A steelwork opened that same year, bringing back some work.

The town saw a huge order for naval ships during WWII but that didn’t last and by 1980 the shipyards closed for good.

In 2014, a local Jarrow mother organised a march on London on behalf of the NHS. 15,000 people joined her along the way. The north remembers and, apparently, is still fighting for the things we fought for all those years ago.

If you need a summation of the spirit of the people of Jarrow, let that be it.

Famous People from Jarrow

This area of Northumberland has as many famous footballers as it has anyone else. Here are the best famous people to have come from this area, who you might have heard of for their celebrity status:

• The Jarrow Arrow is a Jarrow archer, very famous in the Olympic circuit
• The footballer lineup for Jarrow includes Christie Elliot, who plays for Dundee, Ray Drinkwater, who is the goalie for Queen’s Park Rangers, former famous footie star Ray Lugg, Aidan McCaffrey, who used to play for Newcastle, and a half dozen others.
• VC recipient William Goat crossed into the danger zone to retrieve his injured commanding officer under attack from hostile cavalry.
• Singer-songwriter John Miles
• Writer Alan Plater
• Cricketer Gareth Smith
• Frank Williams, a Formula 1 Team Manager
• And Wee Georgie Wood, an old-timey music hall star.

And now that you know which celebs have touched the Jarrow streets with their famous feet, we can get to the meat of the matter. What are the best things to see and do in Jarrow and is it a good place to spend your week off?

The Best Things to See and Do in Jarrow

What are the town’s best attractions? We listed a few Five Minute Spare favourites below.

Historic Sites

The historic site, landmark, niche museum, and fun-filled day out: Jarrow Hall is well worth the visit. This is a Bede-age-themed Anglo-Saxon-era farm, which includes the World of Bede Museum. The Jarrow Hall attractions have regular re-enactments of life in those bygone ages. It is run by South Tyneside Council thanks to lottery funding contributions. You can visit for seasonal shows here and see the re-enactments. You can visit the museum, spend time on the Anglo-Saxon farm and village, or visit Jarrow Hall House. All are exciting ways to learn about the past.

Landmarks

Local landmarks include ancient churches. St Paul’s Monastery is an architectural ruin people come from all over to walk around. Run by English Heritage, this structure is the home of Bede. The monastery is of Anglo-Saxon creation and, though it lies in ruins, you are free to go and spend the day wandering the grounds. Part of it is still in use as St Paul’s Church.

Galleries and Museums

The World of Bede Museum, set inside the Jarrow Hall attraction, is where you go to learn all about the early days of English literature. Back in the Bede era, the only people putting pens onto paper were scholars and priests. Bede was the latter. The museum is home to the largest collection of coloured glass which survives from the 7^th and 8^th centuries, back when they still crafted stained glass windows from lead.

The Bede museum also features exhibits that talk you through how life would have been back then in the monastery. It has a feature which examines the Anglo-Saxon impact on the monasteries and even has an exhibit featuring the Codex Amiatinus. Bede’s most famous work was the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which they have on show. There’s even a reliquary sent from Tuscany.

Outdoor Attractions

The Tyne Pedestrian and Cycle Tunnel helps connect you under the river with the nearby areas. It’s a fun cycle and great to explore with the kids. This is a Grade II listed tunnel that has enabled Tynesiders to cross the river since the mid-fifties. It cost £833,000 to build back in 1851. If you enjoy walking routes, check out the Bede’s Way Walk too. It encompasses most of the ancient buildings between Jarrow and Sunderland. To be fair, there are not very many of them.

Somehow Jarrow evaded having an ancient high street even though it is ancient by modern standards. It’s just that the ancient-ness took place in the monastery, the town mostly grew in the Industrial era.

Sports and Recreation

The town has its own indoor skate park, a haven for teenagers in the wet weather. Check out the Override Skate Park if you are moving here with youngsters. There is a snack bar and some both junior runs and top-grade skate challenges.

The local football team is Jarrow FC. They have both a junior and a senior team. They play in the northern league.

The town doesn’t have its own golf club but there are loads in this area of Tyneside. Check out the Boldon Golf Club which is to your south. Otherwise, you can head to the South Shields Golf club or even farther out to the coast you can attend the Whitburn Golf club.

The town has its own health club: the Jarrow Focus. This is a new leisure centre that features a newly built gym, fitness classes in the sports hall, a theatre area, and a library. It acts as the community hub. If you just moved here and are looking for a gym to join, this would be the one.

Shopping and Retail

The Viking Centre is the place to go in Jarrow to enjoy some shopping. Asides from this shopping centre, the town has a healthy selection of shops. It has a B & M, which is always a plus if you want to lose a score on biscuits. It has a butcher, and a baker, but no candlestick maker. You will find a few charity shops too for a good old thrift store rummage.

Where to Eat and Drink in Jarrow?

Locals like to go out for food and drinks in the Eighty-Six Restaurant and Bar in South Jarrow. They have reliable Mediterranean-style food. They do Tapas. You can try interesting eastern flavours in the Masa restaurant, with an Afghani menu. Have an old worlde ale or Gin in the Albion Gin & Ale House. You can visit the Prince of Wales too.

Other Notable Nearby Attractions

If you have come this far then you either live in Jarrow or you plan on spending some time there long term. If that is the case, explore some of these other nearby northern jewels so you can really get to grips with the Northumberland spirit:

• Visit Hebburn, a wholesome suburban town
• Go to the Houghton-le-Spring Feast week in October
• Spend some time looking for shipwrecks in Tynemouth
• Head north to the Roman fort in Wallsend
• Enjoy great ice cream in Whitley Bay
• See the Angel of the North in Washington

It’s a big old England out there. Have fun exploring it because there is a lot on offer in the north. Plus if you come in the summertime it’s not as cold as you’d think mind you it does rain a bit! Don’t forget that the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland are both nearby. You can head into the city for a day of shopping, stop in a hotel and treat yourself, or find any amenities you can’t get in Jarrow.

How to get to Jarrow

We can’t leave you without giving you a rough idea of where Jarrow is or how to get to it. Here are our failsafe directions which might make more sense if you have a drink in you.

By Road

Take the coast road east out of Newcastle upon Tyne and head south across the river.

By Rail

Jarrow is on the Newcastle Metro line.

By Air

Newcastle airport is your nearest international air connection.

By Sea

The Port of Tyne is the closest port.

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