Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/464

Rh SHIELDS, SOUTH. 452 SHIELDS, SOUTH. time and by the same means parsonage houses were built for the mother church and five districts viz. (in addition to the above) for Holy Trinity and Holy Saviour, which are also district chapelries, and where incumbents receive 200 per annum from the same source as the three above named. The Scotch church, in Howard-street, is a Grecian structure, erected in 1811, at a cost of near 2,300. The United Presby- terians have two places of worship, one in Northumber- land-square, erected in 1857, and the other in Norfolk- street. There are also places of worship belonging to the Wesleyan, Primitive, and New Connexion Metho- dists, Wesleyan Reformers, English Presbyterians, Baptists, Independents, Society of Friends, and a Jewish Svnagogue. There are in the town National, British, and infant schools, also a school of industry for girls, partly endowed ; the Royal Jubilee school in Albion- street, for boys, girls, and infants, also a Roman Catholic and a Presbyterian school. Excellent mutual insurance clubs against shipwreck, &c., flourish here. There are numerous charitable institutions, including the North Shields and Tynemouth dispensary, situated in Church- street ; the Tyne Sailors' homo, situated on the New Quay, and presented to the town in 1856 by the late Duke of Northumberland ; the Master Mariners' Asy- lum, on the Tynemouth road, erected in 1838 at a cost of above 5,000, in front of which is a full length statue of the late Duke of Northumberland ; the soup- kitchen in Wellington-street, besides various other local charities. There are two cemeteries; one in Albion- street, and the borough cemetery at Preston, which latter covers an area of 28 acres, and was opened in 1857. Market day is on Saturday. Fairs are held on the last Friday in A >ril and the first Friday in November. SHIELDS, SOUTH, a seaport, market town, muni- cipal and parliamentary borough, in the par. of Jarrow, E. div. of Chester ward, co. Durham, 6 miles N. of Sunderland, 9 E. of Newcastle, and 20 N.E. of Durham. There is i steam ferry across the river Tyne to North Shields in the county of Northumberland, and a railway terminus near the river bank, to which the York, New- castle and Berwick, and various other lines converge, communicating with the extensive collieries in the neighbourhood, also weekly communication is main- tained by steam- vessel with Hull and Berwick-on- Tweed. This town, which is of comparatively modern growth, occupies the site of a Roman station on the S. bank of the Tyne, and at the termination of the military road, since called the Wreken Dyke, where many anti- quities have been found, including Roman coins, altars, pottery, a bath, inscribed stones, &c. After the Norman conquest it became part of the possessions of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, and was called Le Sheeles, or Shields, from the sheds built along the shore by the fishermen of the Tyne. In the loth and two following centuries it became celebrated for its salt-works, so many as 150 pans being at one time employed, but that branch of industry has long since declined, and is now nearly extinct. In the 1 7th century the manufacture of win- dow glass was first introduced into England, and works established at the Ouseburn, near Newcastle, and towards the close of that century John Cookson established his extensive works at South Shields, which continued to flourish for more than a century, the Messrs. Cookson and Cuthbert and Shortridge and Co. frequently paying 150,000 to government before the repeal of the glass duty, being one-fourth of the whole revenue raised from that tax. In the 18th century chemical works were established, but this manufacture was not fully developed till about 1826, from which time the town has vastly increased in extent and population. In January, 1790, the first life-boat, invented by Oreathead, a native of this town, was successfully employed to rescue some mariners who were wrecked in the offing, and the model of this most useful invention is still preserved in the church of St. Hilda. In 1832 it was created a borough under the Reform Act, returning one member to parlia- ment, the bounds including the township of Westoe and the suburb of Templetown. In 1848 it was constituted with North Shields a distinct port, having previously formed a portion of the port of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and in 1850 received its first charter of incorporation, by which it was divided into three wards, viz. South Shields, Westoe, and Jarrow, the municipal and parlia- mentary bounds being co-extensive. Under this charter it is governed by a mayor, who is also returning officer, 8 aldermen, and 24 councillors, with the style of mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of South Shields. The town, which extends about two miles along the bank of the river from E. to W., is a busy and thriving place. Tho old part consists of a long, narrow, and inconvenient street, running parallel to the river, with several minor streets, while the streets in the modern part are wide and well built. The principal public buildings are the townhall and market house, built in 1768, and situated in a large square near the centre of the town. The union poorhouse is a plain brick building situated in Ocean-street. The savings-bank is a modern stone structure. The news-rooms occupy a position near the site of the Roman station. The literary and scientific institution was established in 1825, and possesses a library of 3,500 olumes. The working men's institute was established in 1850, and has a library of 5,000 volumes. The dispensary, established in 1821, is one of the most beneficial institutions in the town. There are besides a theatre, assembly-rooms, law-house, three commercial banks, gas-works, baths, and washhouses, erected by tha corporation in 1854, at a cost of 3,000, and a branch customs-house, the main office being situated at North Shields. On the river bank are thirteen dry docks, two piers or breakwaters recently constructed on either side of the entrance to the harbour, a pilot tower, and three lighthouses at the mouth of the Tyne, which is partially obstructed by a bar of sand, having only 7 feet of water at ebb tide. The town is partially paved, lighted with gas, and well supplied with pure water from shafts sunk at Humble- don and Fullwell hills, by the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company, incorporated in 1852. The principal trade of the town is in coal, which is brought down the river from the neighbouring collieries in keels, to be reshipped at this port. Ship and boat building is extensively carried on, and there are rope walks, sail and block factories, iron-works, potteries, breweries, varnish manufactories, and extensive nautical and pro- vision stores. The population in 1851 was 28,974, and in 1861 35,239, inhabiting 4,443 houses. The corporation meetings are held at the townhall, and those of the borough magistrates at the police court. Petty sessions are held on Tuesday and Friday by the county magis- trates, and on the other four days by the borough magis- trates. A county court is huld monthly ; also courts baron and leet twice a year by the Dean and Chapter of Durham as lords of the manor of Westoe. South Shields gives name to a Poor-law Union, embracing six townships and the parishes of Boldon and Whitburn. The guardians meet every alternate Thursday. The living is a perpet. cur. in the archdeac. and dioc. of Dur- ham, val. 450, in the patron, of the dean and chapter. The church, dedicated to St. Hilda, was of great an- tiquity, but was almost entirely rebuilt in 1811, with the exception of the square tower. It is considered the parish church, South Shields having been constituted an independent parish for ecclesiastical purposes in 1845, though forming part of Jarrow parish for civil purposes. There are besides thti district churches of the Holy Trinity and St. Stephen, with St. Thomas's and St. Mary's, which have all been endowed by the Dean and Chapter of Durham with 300 per annum. Holy Tri- nity church is a modern structure, with a square tower containing an illuminated dork. St. Stephen's was erected in 1846, with a tower and spire. St. Thomas's was erected in 1818 at a cost of 2,400. St. Mary's, situated near the new dock of the North-Eastern Rail- way Company, was built in 1861. There are two chapels belonging to the United Presbyterians, and one each to the English Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Independents, and Baptists. The benevolent