Visit Hebburn Places

Welcome to Visit Hebburn Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Hebburn

  

Hebburn Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Hebburn

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Hebburn history

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In Saxon times Hebburn was a small fishing hamlet upon the river Tyne. It is thought that the name Hebburn may be derived from the Old English terms, heah meaning “high”, and byrgen meaning a “burial mound”, though it could also mean the high place beside the water. The first record of Hebburn mentions a settlement of fishermen’s huts in the 8th century, which were burned by the Vikings. In the 14th century the landscape was dominated by a peel tower. A 4-foot-6-inch-tall (137-centimetre) wall, a portion of which still remains at St. John’s Church, could also be seen. The Lordship of the Manor of Hebburn passed through the hands of a number of families during the Middle Ages, including the Hodgsons of Hebburn (James 1974, Hodgson). In the early 1600s, the wealthy Newcastle family, the Ellisons, acquired the land of Hebburn. Coal was mined at Hebburn as early as the 17th century. In 1792 the Ellisons received royalties from coal mining expansion when Hebburn Colliery opened. The colliery eventually operated three pits. In 1786 the Ellisons’ Hebburn estate also made income from dumping ships ballast at Hebburn Quay. By the 1800s the Ellison family had expanded Hebburn Manor into their Hebburn Hall estate. Hebburn Colliery played an important role in the investigations into the development of mine safety, following the mining disaster at Felling Colliery in 1812. Humphry Davy stayed with Cuthbert Ellison at Hebburn Hall in 1815 and took samples of the explosive methane ‘fire damp’ gas from the Hebburn mine which were taken to London in wine bottles for experiments into the development of a miners’ safety lamp. Davy’s lamps were tested in the Hebburn mine and remarkably the gauze that protected the naked flames could actually absorb the fire damp so that the lamps could shine more effectively. In 1853, Andrew Leslie arrived from Aberdeen, Scotland. He expanded the Ellison estate, further, with shipbuilding, and in 200 years of industrialisation, Hebburn grew into a modern town of 20,000 inhabitants. When the railways arrived in Hebburn in 1872, further growth took off in the Ellison estate, with the growth of the brick, metal and chemical industries. Andrew Leslie’s shipyard launched two-hundred and fifty-five ships before 1885. In 1885 the shipyard merged with local locomotive builder W Hawthorne, and then changed its name to Hawthorn Leslie and Company, and grew even more. Hebburn also hosted its own Highland Games, with the first one being held in 1883, which were usually held annually in July or August, spanning over three decades and with professional sportsmen coming from Scotland and as far as Oban to compete. In 1894 Hebburn was recognised as its own independent Urban District; it was no longer the private land of the Ellison family; and it also adopted the Ellison family crest as its coat of arms. In 1901 Alphonse Reyrolle’s, Reyrolle Electrical Switchgear Company opened. In 1932 Hebburn colliery closed. 200 miners were killed during the life of the colliery. The youngest were 10 years old. In 1936 Monkton Coke Works was built by the Government, in response to the Jarrow Hunger March in 1932. In the Second World War, the Battle of Britain occurred in 1940 and Hitler had planned an amphibious attack that was predicated on defeating the RAF in the battle. Hitler’s planned first wave of attack, in his Operation Sea Lion plan, was to try and capture Aberdeen and Newcastle. Hitler’s Operation Sea Lion documents had detailed plans to capture the Reyrolle Electrical Switchgear Company. Hawthorn Leslie built everything from liners to tankers. Many Royal Navy battle ships were built at Hawthorn Leslie shipyard. In WWII the yard built 41 naval vessels and repaired another 120. 1n 1944, the yard also built D-day landing craft, including the Landing Craft Tank (LCT) 7074. In April 2020, the craft was housed in the D-Day Story museum. In 2020, the boat was only one of ten craft of its kind to survive post war. One ship built at the ship yard was HMS Kelly, launched in 1938 and commanded by Lord Louis Mountbatten. The ship, a K-Class destroyer, was commissioned just eleven days before WWII. The ship was hit three times. In December 1939, it was damaged by a German mine not far from the river Tyne. On 9 May 1940, she was torpedoed off Norway with the loss of 27 lives. Badly damaged, she crawled back to Hawthorn Leslie on a 92-hour journey to be repaired. In 1941, HMS Kelly was sunk off Crete. One hundred and thirty men were killed when it was sunk and they are remembered in memorials at Hebburn Cemetery, which were erected by surviving members of the crew and workers from Hawthorn Leslie. The Kelly’s story forms the basis of the 1942 film In Which We Serve. The shipyard is now owned by A&P Group but lies vacant. The Monkton Coke Works plant closed in 1990, and was demolished in 1992. The former British Short-Circuit Testing Station in Victoria Road West within the town, owned by A. Reyrolle & Company provided the backdrop for the Gary Numan video “Metal”. The facility was demolished in 2011. In 2012, the BBC commissioned a television series Hebburn to be set in the town. It was created and co-written by Jason Cook, who was raised in Hebburn. The first episode was broadcast on 18 October 2012. The Parachute Regiment 4th Para Reserves have a base in Hebburn. The Air Cadets have a unit located at Hebburn TA Centre. Hebburn has an ecology centre powered by wind turbines. It is the location of a shipyard, operated by A&P Group.

You can visit Hebburn places with Walkfo Hebburn to hear history at Hebburn’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Hebburn has 51 places to visit in our interactive Hebburn map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Hebburn, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Hebburn places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Hebburn & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 51 audio facts unique to Hebburn places in an interactive Hebburn map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Hebburn Places Map
51 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Hebburn historic spots	Hebburn tourist destinations	Hebburn plaques	Hebburn geographic features
Walkfo Hebburn tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Hebburn

  

Best Hebburn places to visit

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Hebburn has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Hebburn’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Hebburn’s information audio spots:

Milecastle 1 Milecastle 1 (Stott’s Pow) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian’s Wall. Its remains are covered over, and are located beneath the recreation ground at Miller’s Dene.

Milecastle 2 Milecastle 2 (Walker) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian’s Wall. Its probable location is at or near the junction of the A187 Fossway and Tunstall Avenue, in the parish of Wallsend.

Leam Lane Estate Leam Lane Estate is a housing estate in Gateshead, built in the 1950s and early 60’s. Originally made up of council-built accommodation and housing association houses. Most of the properties are now privately owned. The estate is located around 4 miles (6.4 km) from Newcastle upon Tyne, 10.5 miles from Sunderland.

Visit Hebburn plaques