CULLERCOATS

Cullercoats Bay

'Cullercoats' is an urban area of North East England, with a population 9,407 in 2004.^[1] It has now been absorbed into the North Tyneside conurbation, sitting between Tynemouth and Whitley Bay. There is a semi-circular sandy beach with cliffs and caves, and the village is a popular destination for day-trippers. The name is thought to derive from Dove (or Culver) Cotes.
Historically the village depended on fishing; there was also local coal mining in so-called bell pits. The coal was used to fire salt pans (now long gone) on the field now known as the boat field. As a port, Cullercoats was used to export both salt and coal. However, the salt industry declined and the growth of the railways led to coal shipments being relocated to better harbours. This left fishing as the main industry and two piers were built on either side of the harbour to provide shelter for the many open top fishing vessels, or cobles, launched from the harbour.
In 1848, a coble taking a pilot to a ship further out at sea capsized with the loss of all on board. In response to this disaster the local landowner, the Duke of Northumberland funded the setting up of an RNLI lifeboat station. The following year a second disaster, this time costing 20 lifeboat crew their lives, prompted the Duke to sponsor a competition to design a self-righting lifeboat. The resulting boat, the ''Percy'' was built at the Duke's expense and delivered to Cullercoats in 1852. The Brigade House and watchtower were later added above the harbour, but the lifeboat station remained in use, with a few minor alterations, until 2003 when a new station was opened.^[2]
The Bay Hotel, an important local landmark, was demolished in 2005. It is notable for a period in the 1880s when it was home to the American watercolour artist Winslow Homer who stayed in room 17 of the Hudleston Arms (1870) (later called the Bay Hotel), and maintained a studio across the road at No.12 Bank Top (demolished 1930). Homer was a resident in Cullercoats for approximately 18 months, from late March 1881 to early November 1882.

Simpson Street, June 2001

Cullercoats is interesting from an architectural perspective: on Simpson Street there is a row of fishermen's cottages which were preserved during the "redevelopment" of the village in the 1970s. Otherwise, between the coast and the railway (now Metro) line are Victorian terraces. The land immediately on the other side consists of long avenues of between the wars semi-detached houses. Another change can then be seen along the line of Broadway where the housing changes again to mixed semi-detached/detached 1970s and 1980s housing estates built around long winding roads and cul-de-sacs.
The present station was first opened by the North Eastern Railway in 1882, and the original station buildings are still in use, although now for the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Cullercoats Life Brigade House

Cullercoats ''NAVTEX'' transmissions

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