South Shields

South Shields is a town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. It has a population of about 90,000. Several famous people were born in South Shields including Catherine Cookson and hollywood director Ridley Scott.

South Shields is famous for its sea faring industries, both building and educational. Many warships were built on the Tyne in both world wars. Pioneering Lifeboats were first built and launched in South Shields. Now it is a town of 100,000+ of many ethnic backgrounds. A large asian, including the largest Yemenese population outside of Yemen. The renowned Ocean Road has over a dozen resturants: indian, bangladeshi, chinese, south african, turkish and english. South Shields coastline is a National Trust protected area. Marsen Rock (part of which collapsed in recent years) is one of the largest seabird colonies in UK. The Grotto, a pub built into the cliff, is the only pub/resturant of its type in europe, having been built on a site origianlly used by the smugler Jack the Blaster. A large Roman fort has been escavated in South Shields, named Arbea, it was the supply fort for Hadrians Wall. Amongst the archaeology uncovered a roman gatehouse and barracks have been reconstrcuted on the original site. A museum holds artifacts such as a Syrian gravestone and a altar to an previously unknown god. It is on the Tyne and Wear Metro service directly connecting it to both Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland.