06/09/2026
ACC 7972 SAVILLE STREET, North Shields
John Wright, the Newcastle solicitor who laid out North Shields for building
in the 1790s, intended that Saville Street should be the central thoroughfare
of his town. However, on finding that he was unable to continue the street over
a Mr Stephenson's land he built Norfolk Street in an unbroken line, cutting off
the east end of the town. He built himself a mansion looking down the length of
Saville Street. The house later became the Albion Hotel, and continued to block
the main road until it was bought and demolished by the Tynemouth Council. The
way through to Charlotte Street was opened on 18th June 1885.
The presence of the tram lines, on the left, dates the photograph between
1879 and 1885, as the first horse tram ran in June 1880, from Camden Street to
the Grand Parade, Tynemouth. On the right is one of the shops belonging to
Green and Byers, drapers and furnishers. In the upper storey one of the windows
is labelled "Telephone Exchange". Green and Byers installed the first telephone
in business premises in the North of England in the summer of 1880. The
Gower-Bell system connected their shops in Howard Street and Union Street.
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