North Tyneside · Town
Tynemouth
A clifftop priory and castle standing guard over the mouth of the Tyne, and one of the North East's most elegant seaside towns.
A headland with a long memory
The rocky headland at Tynemouth has held a religious site since Anglo-Saxon times, refortified again and again over the centuries into the priory and castle ruins that still dominate the view at the river mouth. Historically part of Northumberland, Tynemouth was, along with North Shields, briefly its own county borough before joining North Tyneside in 1974.
Longsands is regularly rated among the best surfing beaches in the country — a title that would have surprised the Victorian holidaymakers who first flocked to Tynemouth in search of sea air rather than swell.
Priory, castle and coast
Now in the care of English Heritage, Tynemouth Priory and Castle occupies one of the most dramatic sites on the whole North East coast, its ruined arches framed against the sea. Below the headland, Longsands and King Edward's Bay give the town two of the region's finest beaches, and Longsands in particular has become a genuine hub for British surfing.
A genteel resort
Victorian and Edwardian Tynemouth grew into a well-to-do seaside resort, a character still visible along the Grand Parade and Front Street. The town's handsome former railway station now hosts a well-loved weekend market inside its restored Victorian train shed.
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Quick facts
- Borough
- North Tyneside
- Historic county
- Northumberland
- Location
- Mouth of the Tyne, North Sea
- Known for
- Tynemouth Priory & Castle, Longsands beach