Land of Three Rivers
The Poetry of North-East England
Published on 10. November 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
528 pages
978-1-78037-376-8 (ISBN)
Description
Land of Three Rivers is a celebration of North-East England in poetry, featuring its places and people, culture, history, language and stories in poems and songs with both rural and urban settings. Taking its bearings from the Tyne, Wear and Tees of the title (from Vin Garbutt's song 'John North'), the book maps the region in poems relating to past and present, depicting life from Roman times through medieval Northumbria and the industrial era of mining and shipbuilding up to the present-day. The anthology has modern perspectives on historical subjects, such as W.H. Auden's 'Roman Wall Blues' and Alistair Elliot on the aftermath of the Battle of Heavenfield in the 7th century, as well as poets from past ages, starting with Caedmon, the first English poet, writing in the 8th century. There are classic North-East songs from the oral tradition of balladeers and pitmen poets alongside the work of literary chroniclers like Mark Akenside from the 18th century, followed by evocations of Northumberland by decadent gentry poet Algernon Charles Swinburne contrasting with grim tales of life down the pit by Tommy Armstrong, Joseph Skipsey and Thomas Wilson in the 19th century. The region's favourite tipple is championed by 18th-century poet John Cunningham in his eulogy 'Newcastle Beer', while 200 years later, Tony Harrison's defences are 'broken down / on nine or ten Newcastle Brown' in his 'Newcastle Is Peru' (1969). Durham is celebrated in a 12th-century priest's poem but is a trinity of 'University, Cathedral, Gaol' for Tony Harrison. The River Tyne flows through poems by Wilfrid Gibson, James Kirkup, Michael Roberts, Francis Scarfe from early to mid-20th century, while the region's dialects (from Northumbrian to Geordie and Pitmatic) are heard in poems by Basil Bunting, William Martin, Tom Pickard, Katrina Porteous and Fred Reed. Other modern and contemporary poets and songwriters featured include Gillian Allnutt, Peter Armstrong, Peter Bennet, Robyn Bolam, George Charlton, Julia Darling, Richard Dawson, the Elliotts of Birtley, W.N. Herbert, Alan Hull, James Kirkup, Mark Knopfler, Barry MacSweeney, Sean O'Brien, Rodney Pybus, Kathleen Raine, Jon Silkin and Anne Stevenson, as well as poets who've spent time in the North-East, such as Fleur Adcock, David Constantine, Fred D'Aguiar, Frances Horovitz, Philip Larkin, Michael Longley and Carol Rumens, writing highly memorable poems in response to the place, its people and their stories. The book's introduction is in two parts, with Rodney Pybus covering the historical background and Neil Astley the last 50 years. This emphasises the importance of the oral tradition during the centuries when little "written poetry" of note was produced in the region. There are also fascinating commentaries on key historical figures by the late Alan Myers.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Tyne and Wear
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
893 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78037-376-8 (9781780373768)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2017
Bloodaxe Books Ltd
€14.49
Available for download
Person
Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably those in Bloodaxe's Staying Alive anthology series: Staying Alive (2002), Being Alive (2004), Being Human (2011), and Staying Human (2020), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation; and three collaborations with Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Soul Food: nourishing poems for starved minds (2008), and the DVD-books In Person: 30 Poets (2008) and In Person: World Poets (2017). He has published two novels, The End of My Tether (2002), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World (2005). He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry, was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books, and in 2018 was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also guest-edited a transatlantic all-poetry issue of the American literary journal Ploughshares, the first such issue in its 43-year history. He lives in the Tarset Valley of Northumberland, England.
Content
Vin Garbutt 14 John North
Neil Astley 15 Land of Three Rivers: 1
Rodney Pybus 18 The Poetry of North-East England (1966)
Andy Croft 30 Writing on Teesside: 1 (2010)
Neil Astley 33 Land of Three Rivers: 2
Basil Bunting 38 What the Chairman Told Tom
Andy Croft 40 Writing on Teesside: 2 (2010)
LAND OF THREE RIVERS
W.H. Auden 45 from New Year Letter
Lilian Bowes Lyon 47 The Glittering North
Mark Akenside 47 from The Pleasures of the Imagination
A.C. Swinburne 49 Northumberland
Basil Bunting 52 from Brigg?atts
Fred Reed 62 Springan
HADRIAN'S WALL
W.H. Auden 64 Roman Wall Blues
Rudyard Kipling 65 The Roman Centurion's Song
Wilfrid Gibson 66 On Caw?elds Crag
Wilfrid Gibson 67 Chesterholm
Wilfrid Gibson 67 The Watch on the Wall
Frances Horovitz 69 Poem found at Chester's Museum, Hadrian's Wall
Frances Horovitz 70 Rain - Birdoswald
Frances Horovitz 71 Vindolanda - January
Frances Horovitz 72 Brigomaglos, a Christian speaks...
Frances Horovitz 73 The Crooked Glen
Roger Gar?tt 74 The Hooded Gods
Gareth Reeves 75 Stone Relief Housesteads
Esther Jansma 76 AD 128
Katrina Porteous 77 This Far and No Further
Alistair Elliot 89 After Heaven?eld
Peter Armstrong 89 Between Greenhead and Sewingshields
JARROW
Bede 91 On Caedmon
U.A. Fanthorpe 93 Caedmon's Song
Norman Nicholson 94 Caedmon
Kathleen Raine 95 Northumbrian Sequence
Anne Stevenson 104 Jarrow
Carol Rumens 105 Jarrow
Alistair Elliot 106 Talking to Bede
W.N. Herbert 111 Bede's World
Jake Campbell 113 On Not Finding Bede
Tom Kelly 114 Monument
Tom Kelly 115 The Time Of?ce, 1965
Tom Kelly 116 The Wrong Jarrow
BORDERERS
Traditional 117 The Battle of Otterbourne
Fleur Adcock 121 Hotspur
Peter Armstrong 127 Borderers
Pippa Little 128 from Foray: Border Reiver Women 1500-1600
129 The Cheviots
129 Alicia Unthank's Ark
130 The Robsons Gone
131 Truce Day
Linda France 132 The Spur in the Dish
Robyn Bolam 132 Raiding the Borders
Katrina Porteous 134 Borderers
Fred Reed 138 Northumborland (2)
A.C. Swinburne 138 A Reiver's Neck-Verse
A.C. Swinburne 139 A Jacobite's Exile (1764)
NORTH TO SOUTH NORTHUMBERLAND
Traditional 142 Old Border Rhyme
Wilfrid Gibson 142 The Cheviot
Traditional 143 Dunnie's Song
John Mackay Wilson 143 The Tweed Near Berwick
Katrina Porteous 145 from Tweed
Vincenza Holland 147 The Harbourmaster's Daughter
Anne Ryland 148 Midsummer Night, Berwick
Peter Bennet 149 Duddo Stones
Rodney Pybus 149 Routing Linn, Northumberland
Linda France 151 Acknowledged Land
Paul Summers 158 acknowledged land
Tony Harrison 159 Stately Home
Sir Walter Scott 159 from Marmion
Wilfrid Gibson 162 Lindisfarne
Katrina Porteous 163 Holy Island Arch
Matthew Hollis 164 Causeway
Cynthia Fuller 164 St Cuthbert on Inner Farne
Andrew Waterhouse 165 Making the Book
Katrina Porteous 167 A Short History of Bamburgh
Fred Reed 168 Bamburgh Wind
A.C. Swinburne 169 Grace Darling
Michael Longley 172 Grace Darling
Katrina Porteous 172 Charlie Douglas
Katrina Porteous 174 The Marks t' Gan By
Katrina Porteous 175 Stinky
Wilfrid Gibson 176 Dunstanborough
Katrina Porteous 177 from Dunstanburgh
Alistair Elliot 181 Deposition
Katrina Porteous 182 Alnmouth
Gillian Allnutt 184 At the Friary in Alnmouth
R.V. Bailey 184 Druridge Bay
Traditional 185 Felton Lonnen
Basil Bunting 185 The Complaint of the Morpethshire Farmer
Paul Batchelor 187 Butterwell
Fred Reed 188 The Pit Heap
Pippa Little 190 Seacoaling
Tony Harrison 191 The Earthen Lot
Traditional 192 The Blackleg Miner
James Henry 193 'Two hundred men and eighteen killed...'
Joseph Skipsey 195 The Hartley Calamity
Joseph Skipsey 198 The Collier Lad
Joseph Skipsey 200 Get Up!
NORTH TYNE, REDESDALE, COQUETDALE
Robert Roxby 202 from The Lay of the Reedwater Minstrel
Billy Bell 205 Winter on the Carter Fell
James Armstrong 207 Wild Hills O' Wannys
Tom Pickard 209 The Raw
Robert Hunter 212 Epitaph for Ned Allan
Fred Reed 212 Northumborland (1)
Basil Bunting 213 'Stones trip Coquetburn'
Colin Simms 214 from Hen Harrier Poems
Colin Simms 214 'There are, were, four couples south of Cheviot...'
Colin Simms 214 'Formerly on traditionally-managed haughland...'
Colin Simms 215 Katharine Macgregor - of The Sneep, Tarset
Colin Simms 215 'The cadence of a Strathspey, played slow...'
Peter Armstrong 216 Between Lord's Shaw and Pit Houses
Wilfrid Gibson 217 Sundaysight
Wilfrid Gibson 218 Hareshaw
Wilfrid Gibson 218 Hareshaw Linn
Peter Bennet 219 Hareshaw Linn
Billy Bell 220 An Old Shepherd's Adventure at Bellingham
Philip Larkin 223 Show Saturday
Peter Armstrong 226 Bellingham
James Armstrong 227 The Kielder Hunt
Christy Ducker 228 How Mackie Did the Drowning, Plashetts
Colin Simms 229 'Out, Northumberland, Out!'
Traditional 230 The Water of Tyne
TYNEDALE, SOUTH TYNE, NORTH PENNINES
Wilfrid Gibson 231 In Hexham Abbey
Wilfrid Gibson 232 The Abbey Tower
Wilfrid Gibson 233 Devilswater
Wilfrid Gibson 234 Mother and Maid
Terry Conway 235 Fareweel Regality
Wilfrid Gibson 236 Fallow?eld Fell
Lauris Edmond 236 At Bywell
Lilian Bowes Lyon 237 Allendale Dog
W.H. Auden 238 Allendale
Lilian Bowes Lyon 239 A Rough Walk Home
W.H. Auden 241 The Old Lead-mine
W.H. Auden 242 Rookhope (Weardale, Summer 1922)
W.H. Auden 242 The Pumping Engine, Cashwell
W.H. Auden 242 The Engine House
W.H. Auden 243 Lead's the Best
W.H. Auden 245 The Watershed
Jon Silkin 247 Killhope Wheel, 1860, Co. Durham
Jon Silkin 248 Strike
Jon Silkin 249 Spade
Pru Kitching 250 Killhope
Pru Kitching 251 What's It Like Up There?
Dorothy Long 252 Road
Barry MacSweeney 253 No Buses to Damascus
Barry MacSweeney 253 Cushy Number
Colin Simms 254 High Fells, April 2011
Colin Simms 255 Where Rise Watters of Tyne, Tees, Wear
NEWCASTLE
John Cleveland 256 News from Newcastle
Tony Harrison 260 Newcastle Is Peru
Brendan Cleary 265 Newcastle Is Benidorm
Ellen Phethean 266 Bacchantes
Julia Darling 266 Newcastle Is Lesbos
W.N. Herbert 268 The Entry of Don Quixote into Newcastle upon Tyne
W.N. Herbert 270 Song of the Longboat Boys
John Cunningham 271 Newcastle Beer
Rodney Pybus 273 'Our Friends in the North'
George Charlton 275 A Return to Newcastle
Robyn Bolam 275 Hyem
Robyn Bolam 276 Moving On
Julia Darling 277 Satsumas
Julia Darling 278 A Short Manifesto to My City
Julia Darling 278 Old Jezzy
Anna Adams 279 The Wild Life on Newcastle Town Moor
Michael Roberts 280 Temperance Festival, Town Moor, Newcastle
W.H. Auden 281 from Twelve Songs
Richard Kell 281 Traditions
W.N. Herbert 284 The Hoppings
Tony Harrison 284 Divisions
Fred Reed 286 Brazen Faces
Kathleen Kenny 286 Grainger Market
John Challis 288 Gift of the Gab
Fleur Adcock 289 Street Song
Anonymous 290 A riddle on the steeple of St Nicholas's Cathedral, Newcastle
Peter Hebden 290 Thin Riddle
Joan Johnston 292 On Falling Up Dog Leap Stairs
Rodney Pybus 292 Salvaging
Rodney Pybus 294 The Side
Mark Knop?er 294 Down to the Waterline
Bernardette McAloon 295 Mistress of the Crown
Traditional 296 The Keel Row
Traditional 297 Do-li-a
Alan Hull 297 Fog on the Tyne
Jimmy Nail 298 Big River
James Kirkup 300 Tyneside, 1936
Rodney Pybus 301 Bridging Loans
Rodney Pybus 307 Passed By
Rodney Pybus 308 Down the Town
Robyn Bolam 309 Where Home Started
Tom Pickard 310 The Devil's Destroying Angel Exploded
Barry MacSweeney 312 I Looked Down on a Child Today
Kayo Chingonyi 314 Baltic Mill
Jen Campbell 314 Treading Water
Ellen Phethean 315 The West End
Stevie Ronnie 316 Rebuilding the West
Edward Chicken 317 from The Collier's Wedding
Gillian Allnutt 322 About Benwell
Gillian Allnutt 323 After the Blaydon Races
Geordie Ridley 324 The Blaydon Races
W.N. Herbert 325 The Blazing Grater, or, The Olympic Torch Passes Through Tyneside
Andy Croft 326 from Great North
Richard Kell 328 Cutty Sark Race, 1986
W.N. Herbert 330 Zamyatin in Heaton
Sean O'Brien 331 Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright
GATESHEAD
Thomas Wilson 332 from The Pitman's Pay
Joe Wilson 335 Maw Bonny Gyetside Lass
Tom Pickard 336 Gateshead
George Charlton 337 Gateshead Grammar
Mark Robinson 338 Angel of the North
Jen Campbell 339 The Angel
Jen Campbell 340 Angel Metal
NORTH TYNESIDE
Michael Roberts 341 H.M.S. Hero
James Kirkup 341 Tyne Ferry: Night
Francis Scarfe 342 Night Fishing
Francis Scarfe 343 Trawlers
William Watson 343 When the Boat Comes In
Sting 344 Island of Souls
A.C. Swinburne 346 The Tyneside Widow
Traditional 348 Bobby Shafto
William Lisle Bowles 349 Written at Tynemouth, Northumberland...
Wilfrid Gibson 349 The Coast-Watch
James Kirkup 350 Balloons in Sunrise
James Kirkup 351 The Harbour: Tynemouth
Michael Blackburn 352 The North Sea at Tynemouth
Helen Tookey 352 At Tynemouth
Peter Mortimer 353 View
Mike Wilkin 354 Cullercoats
Fred D'Aguiar 355 Whitley Bay Sonnets
U.A. Fanthorpe 359 Tyneside in Winter
R.V. Bailey 360 Whitley Bay
Mark Knop?er 361 Tunnel of Love
SOUTH SHIELDS
James Kirkup 363 The Town Where I Was Born
James Kirkup 364 View from the North East
Francis Scarfe 365 Miners
Francis Scarfe 366 Tyne Dock
Francis Scarfe 367 Tyne Dock Revisited
Francis Scarfe 368 In Memoriam
Francis Scarfe 369 The grotto
James Kirkup 370 Marsden Rock
Francis Scarfe 372 The Knocker-up
James Kirkup 372 The Knocker-up
James Kirkup 373 View from the Town Hall, South Shields
James Kirkup 374 Spring in the Public Gardens
James Kirkup 375 The Old Clothes Stall, South Shields Market
James Kirkup 376 South Shields Town Hall in Snow
James Kirkup 378 The Old Library, Ocean Road, South Shields
Jen Campbell 379 Cross-hatch
WEARSIDE
Traditional 380 The Lambton Worm
Lewis Carroll 382 The Walrus and the Carpenter
William Martin 386 His Bright Silver
William Martin 389 Song of the Cotia Lass
William Martin 391 Wiramutha Helix
William Martin 407 Song
James Kirkup 408 Penshaw Pastoral
Johnny Handle 409 Jack Crawford
Ron Knowles 411 Where in This Wind
Tom Pickard 411 Ship 1431
Tom Pickard 412 What Maks Makems
William Martin 414 A19 Hymn
Jake Campbell 418 A184 Hymn
DURHAM
Anonymous 419 Durham
Gillian Allnutt 420 Arvo Paert in Concert, Durham Cathedral, November 1998
William Martin 422 Durham Beatitude
Tony Harrison 423 Durham
James Kirkup 425 Durham Seen from the Train
Katrina Porteous 426 Durham Cathedral
Mark Robinson 426 Durham Cathedral
S.J. Litherland 428 Durham in February
Heidi Williamson 428 River Wear, Durham
David Constantine 429 'But with a history of ECT'
David Constantine 430 The Pitman's Garden
CO. DURHAM
Traditional 431 Rap 'Er te Bank
Tommy Armstrong 432 The South Medomsley Strike
Tommy Armstrong 433 The Durham Lock-out
Wilfrid Gibson 435 The Ponies
John Seed 436 from Brandon Pithouse
Anne Stevenson 443 Forgotten of the Foot
Anne Stevenson 445 Salter's Gate
Dora Greenwell 446 To a Remembered Stream, and a Never-Forgotten Friend
Dora Greenwell 447 Lilies
J.C. Grant 449 A Camp in Chopwell Woods
James Kirkup 451 Chester-le-Street from the Train
James Kirkup 451 View of Ferryhill
Richard Dawson 451 The Ghost of a Tree
Peter Armstrong 453 A695 Hymn
Peter Armstrong 454 Among the Villages
Gillian Allnutt 454 The Singing Pylons
Cynthia Fuller 455 Esh Winning
Cynthia Fuller 456 Lost Landscape
Cynthia Fuller 457 Deerness Valley
J.S. Cunningham 458 North
George Charlton 460 Sea Coal
Bill Grif?ths 461 The Box-Eggs
Bill Grif?ths 463 The Strike
Anna Woodford 464 Two Up Two Down
Mark Robinson 465 Dalton Park/Murton
Jock Purdon 466 The Easington Explosion
Katrina Porteous 467 The Pigeon Men
Eddie Gibbons 468 Early Morning, West Hartlepool, 1963
TEESDALE
Sir Walter Scott 469 from Rokeby
Thomas Babington Macaulay 474 A Jacobite's Epigraph
Richard Watson 475 from My Journey to Work
W.H. Auden 479 The Engine House
Andrew Young 479 In Teesdale
Lindsay Balderson 480 High Force to Low Force
Anne Hine 481 Low Force
Pat Maycroft 481 Cock?eld Fell in Winter
Pauline Plummer 482 Whorlton Lido
Anonymous 483 A Darlington rhyme
John Horsley 483 Darlington Fifty Years Ago
Marilyn Longstaff 485 Darlington
Gordon Hodgeon 486 North Tees Epiphany
Mark Robinson 487 Teesdale, Thornaby
MIDDLESBROUGH
Angus Macpherson 489 from Cleveland Thoughts; or, The Poetry of Toil
A.E. Tomlinson 492 Furnaces
Wilfrid Gibson 493 Cleveland Night
Wilfrid Gibson 494 Fire
Andy Croft 495 Sunlight and Heat
Andy Willoughby 500 The Cold Steel
Keith Porritt 500 Smelter
Maureen Almond 503 The Works
Mark Robinson 504 Dockside Road, South Bank
Mark Robinson 505 Teesport, Redcar
Jo Colley 506 Peg Powler
Bob Beagrie 506 Cook, The Bridge and the Big Man
Bob Beagrie 507 Occasion for Keeping Shtum
Angela Readman 508 Acklam Rainbow
Angela Readman 509 Easterside '59
Angela Readman 509 Easterside '89
Maureen Almond 510 Boro Babe
Jo Colley 511 Boro Girl
CLEVELAND
Andy Willoughby 512 from Between Stations
Pauline Plummer 513 On the Gare at Night
Andy Croft 514 Redcar Sands
Gordon Hodgeon 514 Potato Sellers - Cleveland
Pauline Plummer 515 Saltburn
FAREWELL
Sean O'Brien 516 from Never Can Say Goodbye
Traditional 517 Bonny at Morn
518 Acknowledgements
523 Index of writers
525 Index of places
Neil Astley 15 Land of Three Rivers: 1
Rodney Pybus 18 The Poetry of North-East England (1966)
Andy Croft 30 Writing on Teesside: 1 (2010)
Neil Astley 33 Land of Three Rivers: 2
Basil Bunting 38 What the Chairman Told Tom
Andy Croft 40 Writing on Teesside: 2 (2010)
LAND OF THREE RIVERS
W.H. Auden 45 from New Year Letter
Lilian Bowes Lyon 47 The Glittering North
Mark Akenside 47 from The Pleasures of the Imagination
A.C. Swinburne 49 Northumberland
Basil Bunting 52 from Brigg?atts
Fred Reed 62 Springan
HADRIAN'S WALL
W.H. Auden 64 Roman Wall Blues
Rudyard Kipling 65 The Roman Centurion's Song
Wilfrid Gibson 66 On Caw?elds Crag
Wilfrid Gibson 67 Chesterholm
Wilfrid Gibson 67 The Watch on the Wall
Frances Horovitz 69 Poem found at Chester's Museum, Hadrian's Wall
Frances Horovitz 70 Rain - Birdoswald
Frances Horovitz 71 Vindolanda - January
Frances Horovitz 72 Brigomaglos, a Christian speaks...
Frances Horovitz 73 The Crooked Glen
Roger Gar?tt 74 The Hooded Gods
Gareth Reeves 75 Stone Relief Housesteads
Esther Jansma 76 AD 128
Katrina Porteous 77 This Far and No Further
Alistair Elliot 89 After Heaven?eld
Peter Armstrong 89 Between Greenhead and Sewingshields
JARROW
Bede 91 On Caedmon
U.A. Fanthorpe 93 Caedmon's Song
Norman Nicholson 94 Caedmon
Kathleen Raine 95 Northumbrian Sequence
Anne Stevenson 104 Jarrow
Carol Rumens 105 Jarrow
Alistair Elliot 106 Talking to Bede
W.N. Herbert 111 Bede's World
Jake Campbell 113 On Not Finding Bede
Tom Kelly 114 Monument
Tom Kelly 115 The Time Of?ce, 1965
Tom Kelly 116 The Wrong Jarrow
BORDERERS
Traditional 117 The Battle of Otterbourne
Fleur Adcock 121 Hotspur
Peter Armstrong 127 Borderers
Pippa Little 128 from Foray: Border Reiver Women 1500-1600
129 The Cheviots
129 Alicia Unthank's Ark
130 The Robsons Gone
131 Truce Day
Linda France 132 The Spur in the Dish
Robyn Bolam 132 Raiding the Borders
Katrina Porteous 134 Borderers
Fred Reed 138 Northumborland (2)
A.C. Swinburne 138 A Reiver's Neck-Verse
A.C. Swinburne 139 A Jacobite's Exile (1764)
NORTH TO SOUTH NORTHUMBERLAND
Traditional 142 Old Border Rhyme
Wilfrid Gibson 142 The Cheviot
Traditional 143 Dunnie's Song
John Mackay Wilson 143 The Tweed Near Berwick
Katrina Porteous 145 from Tweed
Vincenza Holland 147 The Harbourmaster's Daughter
Anne Ryland 148 Midsummer Night, Berwick
Peter Bennet 149 Duddo Stones
Rodney Pybus 149 Routing Linn, Northumberland
Linda France 151 Acknowledged Land
Paul Summers 158 acknowledged land
Tony Harrison 159 Stately Home
Sir Walter Scott 159 from Marmion
Wilfrid Gibson 162 Lindisfarne
Katrina Porteous 163 Holy Island Arch
Matthew Hollis 164 Causeway
Cynthia Fuller 164 St Cuthbert on Inner Farne
Andrew Waterhouse 165 Making the Book
Katrina Porteous 167 A Short History of Bamburgh
Fred Reed 168 Bamburgh Wind
A.C. Swinburne 169 Grace Darling
Michael Longley 172 Grace Darling
Katrina Porteous 172 Charlie Douglas
Katrina Porteous 174 The Marks t' Gan By
Katrina Porteous 175 Stinky
Wilfrid Gibson 176 Dunstanborough
Katrina Porteous 177 from Dunstanburgh
Alistair Elliot 181 Deposition
Katrina Porteous 182 Alnmouth
Gillian Allnutt 184 At the Friary in Alnmouth
R.V. Bailey 184 Druridge Bay
Traditional 185 Felton Lonnen
Basil Bunting 185 The Complaint of the Morpethshire Farmer
Paul Batchelor 187 Butterwell
Fred Reed 188 The Pit Heap
Pippa Little 190 Seacoaling
Tony Harrison 191 The Earthen Lot
Traditional 192 The Blackleg Miner
James Henry 193 'Two hundred men and eighteen killed...'
Joseph Skipsey 195 The Hartley Calamity
Joseph Skipsey 198 The Collier Lad
Joseph Skipsey 200 Get Up!
NORTH TYNE, REDESDALE, COQUETDALE
Robert Roxby 202 from The Lay of the Reedwater Minstrel
Billy Bell 205 Winter on the Carter Fell
James Armstrong 207 Wild Hills O' Wannys
Tom Pickard 209 The Raw
Robert Hunter 212 Epitaph for Ned Allan
Fred Reed 212 Northumborland (1)
Basil Bunting 213 'Stones trip Coquetburn'
Colin Simms 214 from Hen Harrier Poems
Colin Simms 214 'There are, were, four couples south of Cheviot...'
Colin Simms 214 'Formerly on traditionally-managed haughland...'
Colin Simms 215 Katharine Macgregor - of The Sneep, Tarset
Colin Simms 215 'The cadence of a Strathspey, played slow...'
Peter Armstrong 216 Between Lord's Shaw and Pit Houses
Wilfrid Gibson 217 Sundaysight
Wilfrid Gibson 218 Hareshaw
Wilfrid Gibson 218 Hareshaw Linn
Peter Bennet 219 Hareshaw Linn
Billy Bell 220 An Old Shepherd's Adventure at Bellingham
Philip Larkin 223 Show Saturday
Peter Armstrong 226 Bellingham
James Armstrong 227 The Kielder Hunt
Christy Ducker 228 How Mackie Did the Drowning, Plashetts
Colin Simms 229 'Out, Northumberland, Out!'
Traditional 230 The Water of Tyne
TYNEDALE, SOUTH TYNE, NORTH PENNINES
Wilfrid Gibson 231 In Hexham Abbey
Wilfrid Gibson 232 The Abbey Tower
Wilfrid Gibson 233 Devilswater
Wilfrid Gibson 234 Mother and Maid
Terry Conway 235 Fareweel Regality
Wilfrid Gibson 236 Fallow?eld Fell
Lauris Edmond 236 At Bywell
Lilian Bowes Lyon 237 Allendale Dog
W.H. Auden 238 Allendale
Lilian Bowes Lyon 239 A Rough Walk Home
W.H. Auden 241 The Old Lead-mine
W.H. Auden 242 Rookhope (Weardale, Summer 1922)
W.H. Auden 242 The Pumping Engine, Cashwell
W.H. Auden 242 The Engine House
W.H. Auden 243 Lead's the Best
W.H. Auden 245 The Watershed
Jon Silkin 247 Killhope Wheel, 1860, Co. Durham
Jon Silkin 248 Strike
Jon Silkin 249 Spade
Pru Kitching 250 Killhope
Pru Kitching 251 What's It Like Up There?
Dorothy Long 252 Road
Barry MacSweeney 253 No Buses to Damascus
Barry MacSweeney 253 Cushy Number
Colin Simms 254 High Fells, April 2011
Colin Simms 255 Where Rise Watters of Tyne, Tees, Wear
NEWCASTLE
John Cleveland 256 News from Newcastle
Tony Harrison 260 Newcastle Is Peru
Brendan Cleary 265 Newcastle Is Benidorm
Ellen Phethean 266 Bacchantes
Julia Darling 266 Newcastle Is Lesbos
W.N. Herbert 268 The Entry of Don Quixote into Newcastle upon Tyne
W.N. Herbert 270 Song of the Longboat Boys
John Cunningham 271 Newcastle Beer
Rodney Pybus 273 'Our Friends in the North'
George Charlton 275 A Return to Newcastle
Robyn Bolam 275 Hyem
Robyn Bolam 276 Moving On
Julia Darling 277 Satsumas
Julia Darling 278 A Short Manifesto to My City
Julia Darling 278 Old Jezzy
Anna Adams 279 The Wild Life on Newcastle Town Moor
Michael Roberts 280 Temperance Festival, Town Moor, Newcastle
W.H. Auden 281 from Twelve Songs
Richard Kell 281 Traditions
W.N. Herbert 284 The Hoppings
Tony Harrison 284 Divisions
Fred Reed 286 Brazen Faces
Kathleen Kenny 286 Grainger Market
John Challis 288 Gift of the Gab
Fleur Adcock 289 Street Song
Anonymous 290 A riddle on the steeple of St Nicholas's Cathedral, Newcastle
Peter Hebden 290 Thin Riddle
Joan Johnston 292 On Falling Up Dog Leap Stairs
Rodney Pybus 292 Salvaging
Rodney Pybus 294 The Side
Mark Knop?er 294 Down to the Waterline
Bernardette McAloon 295 Mistress of the Crown
Traditional 296 The Keel Row
Traditional 297 Do-li-a
Alan Hull 297 Fog on the Tyne
Jimmy Nail 298 Big River
James Kirkup 300 Tyneside, 1936
Rodney Pybus 301 Bridging Loans
Rodney Pybus 307 Passed By
Rodney Pybus 308 Down the Town
Robyn Bolam 309 Where Home Started
Tom Pickard 310 The Devil's Destroying Angel Exploded
Barry MacSweeney 312 I Looked Down on a Child Today
Kayo Chingonyi 314 Baltic Mill
Jen Campbell 314 Treading Water
Ellen Phethean 315 The West End
Stevie Ronnie 316 Rebuilding the West
Edward Chicken 317 from The Collier's Wedding
Gillian Allnutt 322 About Benwell
Gillian Allnutt 323 After the Blaydon Races
Geordie Ridley 324 The Blaydon Races
W.N. Herbert 325 The Blazing Grater, or, The Olympic Torch Passes Through Tyneside
Andy Croft 326 from Great North
Richard Kell 328 Cutty Sark Race, 1986
W.N. Herbert 330 Zamyatin in Heaton
Sean O'Brien 331 Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright
GATESHEAD
Thomas Wilson 332 from The Pitman's Pay
Joe Wilson 335 Maw Bonny Gyetside Lass
Tom Pickard 336 Gateshead
George Charlton 337 Gateshead Grammar
Mark Robinson 338 Angel of the North
Jen Campbell 339 The Angel
Jen Campbell 340 Angel Metal
NORTH TYNESIDE
Michael Roberts 341 H.M.S. Hero
James Kirkup 341 Tyne Ferry: Night
Francis Scarfe 342 Night Fishing
Francis Scarfe 343 Trawlers
William Watson 343 When the Boat Comes In
Sting 344 Island of Souls
A.C. Swinburne 346 The Tyneside Widow
Traditional 348 Bobby Shafto
William Lisle Bowles 349 Written at Tynemouth, Northumberland...
Wilfrid Gibson 349 The Coast-Watch
James Kirkup 350 Balloons in Sunrise
James Kirkup 351 The Harbour: Tynemouth
Michael Blackburn 352 The North Sea at Tynemouth
Helen Tookey 352 At Tynemouth
Peter Mortimer 353 View
Mike Wilkin 354 Cullercoats
Fred D'Aguiar 355 Whitley Bay Sonnets
U.A. Fanthorpe 359 Tyneside in Winter
R.V. Bailey 360 Whitley Bay
Mark Knop?er 361 Tunnel of Love
SOUTH SHIELDS
James Kirkup 363 The Town Where I Was Born
James Kirkup 364 View from the North East
Francis Scarfe 365 Miners
Francis Scarfe 366 Tyne Dock
Francis Scarfe 367 Tyne Dock Revisited
Francis Scarfe 368 In Memoriam
Francis Scarfe 369 The grotto
James Kirkup 370 Marsden Rock
Francis Scarfe 372 The Knocker-up
James Kirkup 372 The Knocker-up
James Kirkup 373 View from the Town Hall, South Shields
James Kirkup 374 Spring in the Public Gardens
James Kirkup 375 The Old Clothes Stall, South Shields Market
James Kirkup 376 South Shields Town Hall in Snow
James Kirkup 378 The Old Library, Ocean Road, South Shields
Jen Campbell 379 Cross-hatch
WEARSIDE
Traditional 380 The Lambton Worm
Lewis Carroll 382 The Walrus and the Carpenter
William Martin 386 His Bright Silver
William Martin 389 Song of the Cotia Lass
William Martin 391 Wiramutha Helix
William Martin 407 Song
James Kirkup 408 Penshaw Pastoral
Johnny Handle 409 Jack Crawford
Ron Knowles 411 Where in This Wind
Tom Pickard 411 Ship 1431
Tom Pickard 412 What Maks Makems
William Martin 414 A19 Hymn
Jake Campbell 418 A184 Hymn
DURHAM
Anonymous 419 Durham
Gillian Allnutt 420 Arvo Paert in Concert, Durham Cathedral, November 1998
William Martin 422 Durham Beatitude
Tony Harrison 423 Durham
James Kirkup 425 Durham Seen from the Train
Katrina Porteous 426 Durham Cathedral
Mark Robinson 426 Durham Cathedral
S.J. Litherland 428 Durham in February
Heidi Williamson 428 River Wear, Durham
David Constantine 429 'But with a history of ECT'
David Constantine 430 The Pitman's Garden
CO. DURHAM
Traditional 431 Rap 'Er te Bank
Tommy Armstrong 432 The South Medomsley Strike
Tommy Armstrong 433 The Durham Lock-out
Wilfrid Gibson 435 The Ponies
John Seed 436 from Brandon Pithouse
Anne Stevenson 443 Forgotten of the Foot
Anne Stevenson 445 Salter's Gate
Dora Greenwell 446 To a Remembered Stream, and a Never-Forgotten Friend
Dora Greenwell 447 Lilies
J.C. Grant 449 A Camp in Chopwell Woods
James Kirkup 451 Chester-le-Street from the Train
James Kirkup 451 View of Ferryhill
Richard Dawson 451 The Ghost of a Tree
Peter Armstrong 453 A695 Hymn
Peter Armstrong 454 Among the Villages
Gillian Allnutt 454 The Singing Pylons
Cynthia Fuller 455 Esh Winning
Cynthia Fuller 456 Lost Landscape
Cynthia Fuller 457 Deerness Valley
J.S. Cunningham 458 North
George Charlton 460 Sea Coal
Bill Grif?ths 461 The Box-Eggs
Bill Grif?ths 463 The Strike
Anna Woodford 464 Two Up Two Down
Mark Robinson 465 Dalton Park/Murton
Jock Purdon 466 The Easington Explosion
Katrina Porteous 467 The Pigeon Men
Eddie Gibbons 468 Early Morning, West Hartlepool, 1963
TEESDALE
Sir Walter Scott 469 from Rokeby
Thomas Babington Macaulay 474 A Jacobite's Epigraph
Richard Watson 475 from My Journey to Work
W.H. Auden 479 The Engine House
Andrew Young 479 In Teesdale
Lindsay Balderson 480 High Force to Low Force
Anne Hine 481 Low Force
Pat Maycroft 481 Cock?eld Fell in Winter
Pauline Plummer 482 Whorlton Lido
Anonymous 483 A Darlington rhyme
John Horsley 483 Darlington Fifty Years Ago
Marilyn Longstaff 485 Darlington
Gordon Hodgeon 486 North Tees Epiphany
Mark Robinson 487 Teesdale, Thornaby
MIDDLESBROUGH
Angus Macpherson 489 from Cleveland Thoughts; or, The Poetry of Toil
A.E. Tomlinson 492 Furnaces
Wilfrid Gibson 493 Cleveland Night
Wilfrid Gibson 494 Fire
Andy Croft 495 Sunlight and Heat
Andy Willoughby 500 The Cold Steel
Keith Porritt 500 Smelter
Maureen Almond 503 The Works
Mark Robinson 504 Dockside Road, South Bank
Mark Robinson 505 Teesport, Redcar
Jo Colley 506 Peg Powler
Bob Beagrie 506 Cook, The Bridge and the Big Man
Bob Beagrie 507 Occasion for Keeping Shtum
Angela Readman 508 Acklam Rainbow
Angela Readman 509 Easterside '59
Angela Readman 509 Easterside '89
Maureen Almond 510 Boro Babe
Jo Colley 511 Boro Girl
CLEVELAND
Andy Willoughby 512 from Between Stations
Pauline Plummer 513 On the Gare at Night
Andy Croft 514 Redcar Sands
Gordon Hodgeon 514 Potato Sellers - Cleveland
Pauline Plummer 515 Saltburn
FAREWELL
Sean O'Brien 516 from Never Can Say Goodbye
Traditional 517 Bonny at Morn
518 Acknowledgements
523 Index of writers
525 Index of places