Editing North East England (section)

===Shipbuilding===

[[Shipbuilding]] was once one of this region's largest industrial sectors. Ships were built on the [[River Wear]] at Sunderland from at least 1346 and on the [[River Tees]] at Stockton from at least 1470,<ref name="Shipbuilding 1790 to 1899">{{cite web|url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Shipbuilding.html|first=David|last=Simpson|publisher=NortheastEngland.co.uk|title=Shipbuilding 1790 to 1899|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830124025/http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Shipbuilding.html|archive-date=30 August 2012}}</ref>  with the Northeast of England more generally being the birthplace of some of the world's greatest vessels. This was recognised in 2013 with the regions shipbuilding heritage and global impact being recognized by [[UNESCO]] and placed on their [[Memory of the World Register]], ranking the regions shipbuilding heritage alongside iconic items such as the Domesday Book in terms of historical importance.<ref>{{cite news|first=Tony|last=Henderson|newspaper=Northern Echo|title=North East shipbuilding heritage wins international recognition|url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/north-east-shipbuilding-heritage-wins-4888693|date=9 July 2013|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719221039/http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/north-east-shipbuilding-heritage-wins-4888693|archive-date=19 July 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Wood to iron and steel====
The early ships were built of wood, but in the 19th century there was a move towards building ships of iron then steel.  Ships were built across the region, especially along [[Tyneside]] in Jarrow and [[Wearside]] in Sunderland and also in smaller ports like Blyth, [[Whitby]] and Hartlepool. Sunderland's early development was due to coal but it later transitioned to become the largest shipbuilding town in the world<ref>{{cite book|last=Brett & Clark|publisher=Black Cat Publications|title=Sunderland-the biggest shipbuilding town in the world|isbn=978-1-899560-97-4|date=3 November 2009}}</ref> giving the town its fame. The first recorded shipbuilder was Thomas Menville at [[Hendon, Tyne and Wear|Hendon]] in 1346.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=British Broadcasting Corp|title=Shipbuilding on Wearside|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/image_galleries/shipbuilding_on_wearside_gallery.shtml?8|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130819151807/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/image_galleries/shipbuilding_on_wearside_gallery.shtml?8}}</ref>

By 1790 Sunderland was building around nineteen ships per year making it the most important shipbuilding centre in the United Kingdom. By 1840 there were 65 shipyards such that over 150 wooden vessels were built at Sunderland in 1850. At this time 2,025 shipwrights worked in the town and some 2,000 others were employed in related industries. Sunderland's first iron ships were built from 1852 and wooden shipbuilding ceased here in 1876. Sunderland shipbuilders included Austin and Son, William Pickersgill and William Doxford.<ref name="Shipbuilding 1790 to 1899" />

It was between 1790 and 1805 that Thomas Haw of Stockton began building ships for the [[Napoleonic wars]]. Shipbuilding did not begin in Middlesbrough until 1833 when a wooden sailing ship called ''The Middlesbro'' was built. Teesside's first iron ship was built in Thornaby in 1854, it was a screw steamer called ''The Advance'', and Teesside's first steel ship was ''Little Lucy'' built in 1858. One famous Teesside-built ship was the {{convert|377|ft|m|adj=on}} long ''Talpore'', built by Pearse and Co of Stockton in 1860. It was a [[troop ship]] for the River Indus, and was the world's largest river steamer at the time.<ref>{{cite book|first=Alan|last=Betteney|publisher=Tees Valley Heritage group|title=Shipbuilding in Stockton and Thornaby|isbn=978-0-9546319-0-1|date=1 December 2003}}</ref> An archive of the ships built on Teesside has been created,<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Teesside Ship Society|title=Shipbuilding on the River Tees|url=http://www.teesbuiltships.co.uk/|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823143943/http://www.teesbuiltships.co.uk/|archive-date=23 August 2013}}</ref>

In Hartlepool Thomas Richardson of Castle Eden and John Parkin of Sunderland established a shipyard at Old Hartlepool in 1835 and built The Castle Eden ship. The shipbuilding company of William Gray was established here in 1862 and Gray became one of the most influential men in the town. He was the first mayor of West Hartlepool in 1887. William Gray shipbuilders won the Blue Ribband prize for maximum output in 1878, 1882, 1888, 1895, 1898 and 1900. The yard closed in 1961.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Hartlepool Mail|title=History of Ship Building in Hartlepool|url=http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk/ships|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917165614/http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk/ships|archive-date=17 September 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Mauretania (ship) (between 1906 and 1914).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|RMS ''Mauretania'' on its Tyneside builder's ways before launch in 1906]]
On Tyneside, [[Charles Mark Palmer]], born in [[South Shields]], established a yard at Jarrow in 1851 and built its first iron collier, ''The John Bowes'', in the following year. It was the first ever seagoing screw collier and was built for John Bowes of Barnard Castle for shipping coal to London. Palmer was also famed for building the first rolled armour plates for [[warship]]s in 1854. William Smith and Co launched the 1,600-ton ''Blenheim'' in 1848.

W. G. Armstrong, the northern engineer, acquired an interest in the Tyneside shipbuilding firm of Mitchells in 1882, and the company of [[W.G. Armstrong|W. G. Armstrong]], Mitchell and Co was formed. The yard built [[battleship]]s as well as a ship called ''Gluckauf'', which was arguably the world's first oil tanker.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} It was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] by the yard in 1886. Scotsman Charles Mitchell started building ships at Walker-on-Tyne in 1852 and purchased a {{convert|6.5|acre|adj=on}} site at [[Wallsend]] in 1873 to soak up excess orders from his Walker shipyard. The new yard failed financially and was handed to his brother-in-law Charles Swan. Charles and his brother Henry were directors of the Wallsend Slipway Company, a repair yard established by Mitchell in 1871. In 1878 Charles arranged a partnership with Sunderland shipbuilder George Hunter, but in 1879 Charles died after falling overboard from a channel steamer whilst returning from the Continent with his wife. Hunter went into temporary partnership with Swan's wife before becoming managing director in 1880. [[Swan Hunter Shipyard|Swan Hunters]] built their first steel ship at Wallsend in 1884 and their first oil tanker in 1889.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Most early ships built at the Swan Hunter yard were smaller, like colliers and barges, but in 1898 it built its first [[ocean liner]], ''Ultonia,'' with a further 21 liners being built between 1898 and 1903. The most famous ship ever launched there was undoubtedly {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|2}}, a transatlantic ocean liner that launched on 20 September 1906. The ship was {{convert|790|ft|m|adj=on}} long, with a [[Beam (nautical)]] of 88&nbsp;ft (27 m) and a [[gross register tonnage]] of 31,938 tons. It carried 2,000 passengers on its maiden voyage on 16 November 1907 and won the [[Blue Riband]] for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, a record held for 22 years.<ref name="Shipbuilding 1790 to 1899" />

====Maritime innovation====
A major pioneering innovation in marine engineering was the steam turbine, invented by [[Charles Algernon Parsons]]. He patented the first steam turbine on Tyneside in 1884. Parsons, born in Ireland in 1854, was the youngest son of the [[Earl of Rosse]] and a keen inventor, who was a junior partner in the Tyneside engineering firm of Clarke Chapman. In 1894 Parsons' Marine Turbine Company launched {{ship||Turbinia}}, the first ship to be powered by electric turbines. She can be still be seen (and boarded) at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums|title=Discovery Museum Collections Summary|url=http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/discovery/collections.html|access-date=20 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728054722/http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/discovery/collections.html|archive-date=28 July 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

====20th-century decline====
Shipyard closures in the 20th century took place during economic slumps and occurred in two phases, between 1909–1933 and 1960–1993. Early closures included Smiths Dock at [[North Shields]] in 1909, which became a ship repair yard, Armstrongs of Elswick in 1921, Richardson Duck of Stockton (1925), Priestman's of Sunderland (1933) and Palmers of Jarrow and [[Hebburn]] (1933). There were 28 North East closures in this period of which 14 were on the Tyne, 7 on the Wear, 6 on the Tees and 1 at Hartlepool. Six shipyards closed in the 1960s including W.Gray of Hartlepool (1961), Short Brothers of Sunderland (1964) and The Blyth Shipbuilding Company (1966). There were five closures in the region in the 1970s including the Furness yard at Haverton Hill, near Stockton, in 1979.<ref name="Shipbuilding 1790 to 1899" />

====Science and engineering====
[[File:Tyne Bridge (geograph 3522843).jpg|alt=|thumb|Tyne Bridge built by Middlesbrough Company Dorman Long]]
The coal and shipbuilding industry that once dominated the North East suffered a marked decline during the second half of the 20th century. [[Tyneside]] is now re-inventing itself as an international centre of art, culture and through [[Centre for Life|The Centre For Life]], [[science|scientific]] [[research]], especially in [[healthcare]] and [[biotechnology]]. [[Newcastle University]] is now a leading institution in the development of [[stem cell]] technology being the first in the United Kingdom and the second institution in Europe to obtain a licence to do such work.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|title=Green light for stem cell clones|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/aug/12/sciencenews.genetics|access-date=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212062748/http://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/aug/12/sciencenews.genetics|archive-date=12 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> As with the rest of the region, Sunderland suffered economic decline during the last century, but is now becoming an important area for [[quaternary industry]], bioscience, computing and [[high technology|high]] tech industries. The economy of Sunderland is now dominated by the [[Nissan Sunderland|Nissan]]'s European car manufacturing facility and supply chain which is also leading that company's development of [[electric vehicles]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Adrian|last=Pearson|publisher=The Journal|title=Nissan plans its expansion of Sunderland plant|url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/nissan-plans-expansion-sunderland-plant-5759091|access-date=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823054242/http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/nissan-plans-expansion-sunderland-plant-5759091|archive-date=23 August 2013}}</ref>

The economy of Teesside continues to be largely based on the [[petrochemical]], [[commodity chemicals|commodity chemical]] and [[Steel industry|steel industries]] that form a significant part of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), but newer industries such as offshore engineering and [[digital computing]], particularly in the field of [[Game design]], have emerged from Teesside University.<ref>{{cite news|first=Martin|last=Walker|publisher=BDaily|title=Cash approved for £4.2m Teesside digital centre|url=https://bdaily.co.uk/creative/20-08-2013/cash-approved-for-42m-teesside-digital-centre/|access-date=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821075011/https://bdaily.co.uk/creative/20-08-2013/cash-approved-for-42m-teesside-digital-centre/|archive-date=21 August 2013}}</ref> [[Northumberland]], although largely rural and an important tourist location with its castles, beaches, and history has a nationally significant concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies around Cramlington and Prudhoe.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Arch Corporate Holdings|title=Invest in Northumberland – Key sectors|newspaper=Perfect.uk |url=http://www.archnorthumberland.co.uk/invest-in-northumberland/key-sectors/|access-date=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214051736/http://www.archnorthumberland.co.uk/invest-in-northumberland/key-sectors/|archive-date=14 December 2012}}</ref> The county has also seen a huge investment into the creation of the UKs largest reservoir, [[Kielder Water]], enabling the Northeast to attract more industry. Kielder forest around the reservoir is known to have the darkest night sky in England,<ref>{{cite news|work=BBC News|title=Observatory boasts darkest skies|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7366394.stm|access-date=22 August 2013}}</ref> making it an ideal location for both professional and amateur astronomers.

The [[Durham, England|City of Durham]] with its highly regarded [[Durham University|University]], Castle and Cathedral attracts many tourists and also a significant number of knowledge intensive businesses (KIBS) in architecture, engineering, technology and measurement science. At [[Sedgefield]] in County Durham, [[NETPark]] is home to the Centre for Process Innovation's [[Printable Electronics Technology Centre]], a nationally important centre for the development of [[printed electronics]] and a number of other emerging electronics companies such as Kromek.
[[File:Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.jpg|thumb|left|[[Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge]]]]
Today,{{when|date=May 2023}} the members of the [[Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster]] (NEPIC) represent about one third of the regional industrial economy. The NEPIC is constituted by commodity chemical, [[petrochemical]], [[speciality chemical]], [[pharmaceutical]], [[biotechnology]], [[polymer]], [[renewable material]] and [[renewable energy]] companies and the associated supply chains. The Teesside industry is located on three large chemical sites at [[Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland|Wilton]], [[Billingham]] and [[Seal Sands]] at the mouth of the River Tees and [[Teesport]], the third largest port in the UK and the tenth in Western Europe and is important logistical infrastructure supporting the commodity chemical and steel members of NEPIC. In the 21st century [[PD Ports]], owners of Teesport, have been developing it as a Port Centric Logistical Centre. This strategy has seen a number of significant importing and distribution facilities for the north of the UK being built here, including distribution centres for the distribution operations of Asda/Walmart and Tesco supermarket chains.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=PD Ports|title=PD Ports Aims to Make Logistics More Logical|url=http://www.pdportcentriclogistics.co.uk/pd-ports-aims-to-make-logistics-more-logical/|access-date=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714171140/http://www.pdportcentriclogistics.co.uk/pd-ports-aims-to-make-logistics-more-logical/|archive-date=14 July 2014}}</ref>

NEPIC has two offices in the region: one in the north in Sunderland, serving the pharmaceutical and speciality chemical industries on Tyneside and in south Northumberland, and one in the south at [[Wilton International|Wilton]] near Redcar, serving the commodity chemical and steel industry of Teesside and operating amongst several process sector and supply chain companies that work out of the process industry research centre, The Wilton Centre, one of Europe's largest technical development laboratory facilities. The head office of the [[Centre for Process Innovation]], part of the UK's [[High Value Manufacturing Catapult]], is based in this multi-occupancy technical development centre along with their pioneering National Industrial Biotechnology Facility.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wiltoncentre.com/directory/c/ |title=Wilton Centre Tenant's Directory – C |publisher=Wilton Centre |access-date=21 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210190725/http://www.wiltoncentre.com/directory/c/ |archive-date=10 December 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wiltoncentre.com/news/2009/10/16/Investment-supports-pioneering-industrial-biotechnology-work.html |title=Investment Supports Pioneering Industrial Biotechnology Work |publisher=Wilton Centre |date=16 October 2013 |access-date=21 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210190426/http://www.wiltoncentre.com/news/2009/10/16/Investment-supports-pioneering-industrial-biotechnology-work.html |archive-date=10 December 2013 }}</ref>