From railway engineering to shipbuilding, from iron and steel to rope making, and from pottery to glassworks, for many centuries the banks of the River Tyne steamed, smoked, clanged, banged and bustled with industry of all kinds. Most industries depended on coal, the black diamonds of North East England, for the import of raw material, and the export of goods. With an introduction by industrial archaeologist Professor Stafford Linsley, the authors of Lost Industries of the Tyne explore some of these vanished trades, and working lives that have gone forever. Nostalgia for such dangerous, dirty and often poisonous occupations might be misplaced, but there is much to be proud of in the story of enterprise, ingenuity, invention, and sheer dogged hard labour that made the North East the workshop of the world.

Alan Morgan is a Newcastle City Guide and has written many books on the local history of Tyneside. Ken Smith is a retired journalist and author of many books on Tyneside, particularly shipbuilding and mining. Tom Yellowley is a retired GP and local historian with a great knowledge of local industry.