Wallsend Stories
1-6 July 2024
Let’s celebrate the long, rich and diverse history of our local area by sharing your stories and ensuring they are recorded forever.
We have local author Helen Aitchison, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, Wallsend Local History Society, VODA, and our local writers’ group all taking part to celebrate our Wallsend.
Every day from Monday 1 July to Friday 5 July there will be displays of the history of our local area in Wallsend Library.
Come and visit the displays and talk with the History Society to find out more about how our area contributed to the wealth of our country and see how it has changed over the years.
Share your stories so they can be recorded forever.
See below for special events happening on each day from Monday 1 to Friday 5 July.
Monday 1 July
Time: 11am – 1pm
Streets Above – share your memories
Location: The Wallsend Market
Share your stories, memories and images of the streets that used to sit across the fort site at Segedunum.
Join Ricardo Lopes from Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, who will record your memories and images of the community that lived on or close to the fort and civilian settlements.
The Wallsend Co-op Forum – share your memories
The Wallsend Market
Did you shop at the Co-op in Wallsend? Or perhaps you went to parties or even a wedding reception!
Join Jo Woolley from VODA to share your memories of the Wallsend Co-op Forum. Jo wants to record your memories and photographs for a reminiscence project which will become a travelling exhibition to local care homes.
Residents will be encouraged to share conversations about their memories of the Co-op and Wallsend to celebrate our local history.
Tuesday 2 July
Time: 2.30pm
Collieries of Wallsend
Wallsend Library
Discover the fascinating history about the opening of Wallsend Colliery, from its start in 1781, its closure due to flooding, and its reopening in 1893. Discover how it became the Rising Sun Colliery which only closed in 1969 and was transformed into our Rising Sun Country Park.
Wednesday 3 July
Time: 11am
Historic Walking tour of Wallsend
Meet at Segedunum, and end in the Richardson Dees Park
Join our tour guides for a history packed tour of Wallsend
Approximately - one hour
If you can, please make a donation to the Wallsend Local History Society.
Thursday 4 July
Time: 10am-midday
Our North Tyneside Stories
The Wallsend Market
Be part of history and share our heritage.
Create a poem or short piece to share your memories, experiences, and what makes North Tyneside special to you for the ‘My North Tyneside’ project.
Helen from Write on the Tyne will be available to assist and inspire. All pieces created will go on tour at the end of the year, before being archived on Write on the Tyne’s website, for all to read.
Thursday 4 July
Time: 11am and 2pm
Free guided tours of Segedunum at Segedunum Roman Fort
Friday 5 July
Time: 2.30pm
Gone But Not Forgotten - Wallsend writers
Wallsend writers will perform stories and poetry inspired by the library’s Local History Collection that will be sure to bring our local history to life.
Saturday 6 July
Wallsend Festival
Roaming Romans
Find out about how and what to recycle
Listen to music performed by our young local musicians
DAILY DROP-IN EVENTS
Every Picture Tells a Story
1-5 July daily
Location: Wallsend Library
Explore photos and ephemera from the history society’s extensive archive to discover Wallsend’s vibrant past.
Chat to members and share your own stories.
Wallsend after hours – self-tour
1-6 July after hours
Come and view old Wallsend town on the shutters of our shops
Building the Wall Redux
1-6 July daily
Location: Segedunum Roman Fort
If you missed the original exhibition, you have another chance to see part of it in Gallery 3.
This compact exhibition explores who built Hadrian’s Wall and how. It looks at the substantial practical and logistical challenges involved. It examines questions such as: where did they get the stone? What tools did they use? How did they transport everything? How did they deal with the rivers and streams that needed to be crossed?
This exhibition looks at the section of Wall between Wallsend and the original end of the Wall in Newcastle. It includes ground-breaking new research from the excavation of the section of Wall just outside the fort at Wallsend, including how water was supplied to the fort and bath-house, and the original appearance of the fort’s west gate.
EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR:
Free entry to Segedunum for all who live in NE28 postcode
