The Ouseburn is a small river in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England that flows through the city of

into the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...

. It gives its name to the

Ouseburn Valley The Ouseburn Valley is the name of the valley of the Ouseburn, a small tributary of the River Tyne, running southwards through the east of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The name refers particularly to the urbanised lower valley, spanned by thr ...

and the Ouseburn

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

for Newcastle City Council elections. The Ouseburn has its source at Callerton in the north of the city near Newcastle Airport. It then flows through the

Kingston Park Kingston Park is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, about north west of the city centre. It is home to several large retailers, the largest being one of Tesco's flagship stores—at 11,055 square metres (119,000 sq ft) which was also t ...

area of the city,

Newcastle Great Park Newcastle Great Park is a new suburb in the north of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Much of Newcastle Great Park is still under development and is sandwiched in between older areas of Newcastle, namely Gosforth, Fawdon and Kingston Park to the so ...

, Gosforth Park and Whitebridge Park. The Ouseburn then continues from South Gosforth into Jesmond Dene then through Armstrong Park and Heaton Park, where it marks the boundary between Heaton and

Sandyford Sandyford () is a suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. Sandyford Business District makes up much of the suburb and encompasses 4 business parks: Sandyford Business Park, Stillorgan Business Park, Central Park and S ...

. The river then flows through a

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdo ...

before re-emerging under Ouseburn railway viaduct, whence it flows past the City Farm, Seven Stories and the Toffee Factory and meets the River Tyne. The river was previously tidal from the Viaduct, revealing dark mud at low tide. However, since 2009 a tidal barrage at the river mouth retains high water in the Ouseburn at low tide, with the objective of providing a more pleasant environment alongside its banks at low tide, thus promoting

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

. Despite the expense of its construction, the Ouseburn barrage has had operational problems and was left open for a length of time while they were corrected. The lower

, whilst heavily industrialised in the past, serves as a hub for the arts and creative industries, and has a lively pub scene, noted for live music and

real ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...

. In Roman times the lower Ouseburn Valley was crossed by

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

, but there are now no visible traces to be seen. On the eastern side of the valley, at the eastern end of a new block of flats, there is an information board with an artist's impression of the Wall crossing the valley. This section of the Wall was the later extension from the Roman fort of Pons Aelius (Newcastle) to that of

Segedunum Segedunum was a Roman fort at modern-day Wallsend, North Tyneside in North East England. The fort lay at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall (in Wallsend) near the banks of the River Tyne, forming the easternmost portion of the wall. It was in use ...

(Wallsend). This newer section of the Wall was not backed by the

Vallum Vallum is either the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart (Agger) with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch (fossa). The name is derived from '' vallus'' (a ...

ditch, because the

rendered it superfluous.

References

External links

Newcastle Council Ward Info: Ouseburn

Ouseburn Trust

Ouseburn Guide

Victoria Tunnel
{{authority control Geography of Newcastle upon Tyne Districts of Newcastle upon Tyne Wards of Newcastle upon Tyne Rivers of Tyne and Wear

See also

References

External links