Map

The overlays that highlight 17th century London features are approximate and derived from Wenceslaus Hollar’s maps:

Open location in Google Maps: 54.977614, -1.604003

3 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro  •  Link

THE HISTORY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

"Coals to Newcastle" - the phrase indicates the dominating importance of the coal trade to the town. By the end of the fourteenth century the "sea cole" trade to London and other ports had been established, although coal mining had begun much earlier. Newcastle's chartered control of the river meant that even coal mined outside the town boundaries was shipped through its port, greatly increasing revenue. Between 1565 and 1625 the coal trade increased twelve fold, a growth which saved Newcastle from the slump which affected other towns as the wool trade declined.
There was a brief halt to the town's continuing rise during the Civil War. Royalist Newcastle was besieged for three months in 1644 and fell to the Earl of Leven's Scottish army. (It was from this defence that Newcastle was said to have been granted its motto by Charles I: "Fortiter Defendit Triumphans" (Triumphing by a bold defence). Critical damage was done to the coal trade during the Civil War, but prosperity was regained remarkably quickly after Restoration. According to Hearth Tax Returns of 1663-65 Newcastle was the fourth largest provincial town in terms of the population, after Norwich, York and Bristol.
From the late seventeenth century, other trades and industries joined coal as producers of wealth, whether or not the factories were actually in Newcastle - iron, slat and glass for example. The town became a regional centre: a commercial infrastructure was developed which was not present in other north- east towns: an Assay Office from 1702, Carr's Bank (probably the first outside London) in 1755.

http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/N…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Newcastle upon Tyne (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne. The city developed in the area that was the location of the Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the castle built in 1080, by Robert II, Duke of Normandy, the eldest son of William the Conqueror. The city grew as an important centre for the wool trade and it later became a major coal mining area. The port developed in the 16th century and, along with the shipyards lower down the river, was amongst the world's largest shipbuilding and ship-repairing centres. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newc…

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Off the mouth of the River Tyne is located the Dogger Bank, as important in British history as any of the sandbars Pepys mentions as sheltering the Navy off the coast of Kent, Sussex and Essex. But the Second Anglo-Dutch War didn't come this far up the coast.

The name Dogger Bank was first recorded in the mid-17th century. It is probably derived from the word "dogger" used for a 2-masted boat of the type that trawled for fish in the area in medieval times. The area has similar names in Dutch, German, and Danish, which shows its international appeal.

The bank extends over about 17,600 sq. kilometres (6,800 sq. mi.), and is about 260 x 100 kilometres (160 x 60 mi.) in extent. The water depth ranges from 15 - 36 metres (50 - 120 ft.), about 20 metres (65 ft.) shallower than the surrounding sea.
More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog…

Kentish ports from Gravesend to New Romney engaged in fishing. Before the Dissolution, the religious houses consumed vast quantities of fish, and there was always a ready market for it.

Around the south coast a large variety of fish were caught. In 1350 Daniel Rough, the Town Clerk of Romney, wrote a list of the taxes which were payable on goods bought or sold in the town, and it includes cod, porpoise, herring, sprats, crabs, salmon, haddock, lampreys, mackerel, conger, shrimps, whiting, tench and eels.

So long as the main fishing grounds were near the coast, or at least not farther off than the Dogger Bank, the Kent fishing industry remained prosperous, ...

EXCERPTED FROM “Industries in the 15th to 18th Centuries“ [in Kent]
https://www.wilcuma.org.uk/the-hi…

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1661

1663

1667

1668