Newbiggin-by-the-Sea

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Coordinates: 55°10′59″N 1°30′55″W / 55.1830°N 1.5154°W / 55.1830; -1.5154

Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea shown within Northumberland
Population	7,100
OS grid reference	NZ308877
Shire county	Northumberland
Region	North East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWBIGGIN-BY-THE-SEA
Postcode district	NE64
Dialling code	01670
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Northumberland
Ambulance	North East
European Parliament	North East England
UK Parliament	Wansbeck
List of places: UK • England • Northumberland

Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is a small town in Northumberland, England, lying on the North Sea coast. Once an important port for shipping grain and a coal mining town, it is still a small fishing port making use of traditional coble boats.

The town was at the end of the first telegraph cable from Scandinavia in 1868. Attractions in Newbiggin today include the fourteenth century parish church, and a small heritage centre.

John Braine was working at the library in Newbiggin (1954-56) when he wrote his best-selling Room at the Top.

Newbiggin is one of the area's prime locations for watching the North Sea seabird passage during spring and autumn.

Until 2004 Newbiggin was host to an annual street fair that attracted thousands of people every year, a huge fair that expanded over many years. In its final years the fair was set out in the following format: starting at the beginning of the shopping area of Front Street, up to the Cresswell Arms public house flowing into Church Point car park and continuing along the seafront promenade. The lifeboat house and boat yard became the music venue. A stage replaced the boats and the lifeboat house opened its doors, serving food and afternoon tea. Over the years many celebrities entertained the crowds. Some of the more famous appearances were made by Slade, Leo Sayer and TV show Gladiators star Michael Van Wijk along with many others.

Now complete is a £10,000,000 renovation to rebuild and improve Newbiggin's rapidly eroding beach. This involved importing 500,000 tonnes of sand from Skegness, delivered by the Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) Oranje [1] and deposited on the beach [2] through a pipe approximately 1m in diameter. A new offshore breakwater was installed to accompany the matching breakwater on the opposite side of the bay [3]. Also installed is a brass statue by sculptor Sean Henry named Couple, anchored in the centre of the bay.[4][5]

[edit] External links

• Community Web site
• Newbiggin Photos

v • d • e Coastal settlements of Northumberland Anticlockwise Cresswell Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Clockwise Cambois

v • d • e Ceremonial county of Northumberland North East England Portal Unitary authorities Northumberland Major settlements Allendale · Alnwick · Amble · Ashington · Bedlington · Berwick-upon-Tweed · Blyth · Corbridge · Cramlington · Haltwhistle · Hexham · Morpeth · Newbiggin-by-the-Sea · Ponteland · Prudhoe · Rothbury · Wooler See also: List of civil parishes in Northumberland Topics Parliamentary constituencies · Places · SSSIs