North Shields, St. Peter's Stairs

HER Number:
12098

District:
N Tyneside

Site Name:
North Shields, St. Peter's Stairs

Place:
North Shields

Map Sheet:
NZ36NE

Class:
Building Component

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Staircase

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
Shown on Ordnance Survey Second Edition of 1898. Gave access to the church school and Yeoman Street from Borough Road. Still there. During the 1800s the town began to sprawl up the bankstowards the higher ground in an attempt to escape the overcrowded riverside. Roads could not be built up the steep gradient and so a series of stairs connected the riverside with the high town. Dwellings, public houses, shops and workshops clustered around these stairs which Hutchinson (1776) described as busy, narrow, dirty alleys. The stairways are important to the character of the Conservation Area. Their names remind us of long gone people and businesses.

Easting:
3558

Northing:
6795

Grid Reference:
NZ35586795

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Tyne and Wear Museums, 2006, Land Adjacent to Borough Road, North Shields - Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Assessment; FISHcast, sub-group of FISH (Folk Interested in Shields Harbour), 2007, North Shields - The New Quay and The Fish Quay Conservation Areas - FISHcast Community Character Statement; R. Simpson, 1988, North Shields and Tynemouth; W. Hutchinson, 1776, A View of Northumberland Vol 2