Did You Know?

Newcastle is a university city on the River Tyne in northeast England. With its twin city, Gateshead, it was a major shipbuilding and manufacturing hub during the Industrial Revolution and is now a centre of business, arts and sciences.

Newcastle’s first street lights were installed in 1763. At first they were oil lights but by 1818 they were gas and by 1827 there were 269 gas lamps inside the walls.

Newcastle was developed around the Roman settlement Pons Aelius and was named after the castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conqueror's eldest son. The city grew as an important centre for the wool trade in the 14th century, and later became a major coal mining area.

The city is believed to be the coldest major city in England, but it is also one of the driest cities in the UK, due to being in the rain shadow of the North Pennines.

Famous film director Ridley Scott has close ties with the area. Although technically Ridley was born in South Shields – a coastal town near Newcastle – the Scott family has more than one reason to appear in our list of facts. Ridley’s great uncle, Dixon Scott, began the family film legacy by opening the Tyneside Cinema in the 1930s – which still stands to this day.

The diamond railway crossing was once the largest in the world.

When the Normans landed in the North East, with them came Robert Curthose, William the Conqueror’s son. He re-structured the Roman fort into a motte and bailey castle in 1080. He was nicknamed ‘shorty pants’ due to the meaning of his surname and most probably his lack of height.

The renowned poet Lord Byron attended school in Newcastle. The city has a rich literary history, and its libraries and bookshops continue to thrive based on this. It has made significant contributions to literature, hosting a variety of notable authors and literary events.

Newcastle Central Station was the first covered train station in the world and it was opened in 1850 by none other than Queen Victoria herself. Believe you or not, before that all passengers had to brave the elements while they waited for their train! The station is today one of only six Grade I listed railway stations in the UK.

It has seven bridges crossing the river in the space of half a mile. Tyne Bridge is said to have inspired Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia; High Level Bridge was the first in the world to combine road and rail; Swing Bride pioneered the use of hydroelectric power; and the Millennium Bridge was the world’s first bridge to pivot sideways in order to allow boats through.

The University is one of the best in the world and, according to QS World 2016 university rankings, it ranked in the top 1% of Universities worldwide. It is also said to have the best student nightlife in the UK!