Georgian North Shields: A Walk Up the Banks

Most visitors to North Shields head for the Fish Quay, but climb the steep banks from the riverside and you find a different town altogether: an elegant Georgian "new town" of planned streets and squares, laid out when the merchants of North Shields decided to build themselves a smarter address away from the smells and bustle of the quay. This short walk traces that history, from the crowded "Low Town" by the water up to the airy "High Town" on the plateau above.

Two towns, high and low

For much of its history, North Shields was really two settlements. "Low Town" was the cramped riverside strip along the Fish Quay, where the fishing and maritime trades and the families who worked them were packed onto the narrow bankside. As the town prospered in the eighteenth century, its wealthier residents began to build a "High Town" on the flat ground above, linked to the quay by long, steep flights of stairs and banks that are still part of the town's character today.

The banks and stairs

The climb itself is part of the story. Names like Tanners' Bank and the Ropery Banks recall the industries that once lined the slope: tanning, and the rope-making whose long ropewalks turned out cordage for the ships below. The banks and stairs are steep, but they reward the effort with fine views back over the river and the Quay, and they are the most direct way to travel between the two levels of the town on foot.

The Georgian new town

At the top, from around 1796, the developer John Wright laid out a planned new town. Its centrepiece is Howard Street, a broad, dignified street rising to Northumberland Square, and it was here that the town's professionals and merchants built their handsome Georgian houses. On Howard Street stands the old corn exchange, now The Exchange 1856, a restored Grade II listed building that today serves as the town's leading arts and music venue.

Northumberland Square and Dockwray Square

Northumberland Square remains the elegant heart of the upper town, a Georgian square lined with fine buildings and greenery, and the traditional home of the town's famous Wooden Dolly. A little way off is Dockwray Square, an earlier Georgian residential square. Together they show a side of North Shields that is easy to miss but well worth seeking out: a prosperous, planned town looking down on the working river that made it.

Making a day of it

This walk pairs naturally with the riverside heritage below. See our North Shields maritime heritage trail for the Fish Quay, the lighthouses and Clifford's Fort, and getting around North Shields for arriving by Metro right in the heart of the Georgian town.