Pre-history to the Romans

At Howick Bay, near Alnwick on the Northumberland coast, traces of the oldest house in Britain dating from about 7800 BC were recently discovered. At the end of the last Ice Age there was an area of land archaeologists call Doggerland that linked what is now Europe to eastern England. People lived in this area and it is very likely that some travelled from there to what is now the North-East England coast. By the Bronze Age the area had quite a large population, including a warrior society. The gradual takeover of the area by the Romans lead to massive changes – forests were cut down, marshes were drained, and roads were built. Roman emperor Hadrian’s decision that his predecessors had expanded the empire too much and so needed to consolidate their gains led to the River Tyne becoming an important northern border to the Roman Empire, including the massive undertaking of building what we know today as Hadrian’s Wall. The Romans also built the first recorded bridge across the Tyne at a point on the river where Newcastle and Gateshead now stand. The Roman era on Tyneside lasted almost 300 years, with at least three or four forts making up the garrison near the mouth of the Tyne.