Meadow Well, also known as Meadowell or the Ridges, is a district of North Shields,

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

in Northumberland, it is now part of the Tyne and Wear

Metropolitan county The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...

. The population in 2016 was approximately 11,000.

History

Construction

The council estate was constructed in the 1930s to house residents that were displaced by the clearance of the Dockwray Square and Low Town slum areas. These flats were replaced with better quality homes in the 1960s and 70s. Meadow Well was formerly known as the Ridges Estate – a name occasionally used today – since it was built on the site of the Ridges Farm. The name ''Meadow Well'' is derived from a well situated meadow upon which the estate was built.

Riots

On Monday, 9 September 1991, Meadow Well was featured heavily in the news across the UK as

riots A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...

broke out following the death of two youths. The riots resulted in large parts of the Meadow Well estate being burned down, including residences, shops, electricity sub-stations, a community centre and a health centre. Today the area has been regenerated, with much of the original Meadow Well estate having been demolished and redeveloped. The riots spread to

Benwell Benwell is an area in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The place-name 'Benwell' is first attested in the ''Historia de Sancto Cuthberto'' circa 1050 AD, where it appears as ''Bynnewalle'', from the Old English ''bionnan ...

, Scotswood, and Elswick in Newcastle upon Tyne, and

Pennywell Pennywell is one of the UK's largest post-war social housing schemes, and is situated in the central-west area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Pennywell is the largest local authority housing estate in the City of Sunderland. ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

on 12 September. Today the stigma still remains over the Meadow Well estate, even after redevelopment and regeneration.

Transport

Meadow Well Metro station is on the yellow line of the Tyne and Wear Metro. It was originally named ''Smith's Park''. The station was purpose built for the Metro and opened on 14 November 1982. After the redevelopment of the Meadow Well and Royal Quays areas, the station was reopened on 10 October 1994 with the name Meadow Well Metro Station.

Education

There are three Primary Schools which service the area. These include St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Riverside Community Primary School and Nursery and Waterville Primary School.

Norham High School Norham High School is a coeducational secondary school located in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England. It is a foundation school administered by North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council and offers GCSEs, BTECs and Cambridge Nationals as ...

, providing secondary education, is located to the north west.

Geography

The estate is around a mile west of the centre of North Shields. Percy Main borders Meadow Well to the south. The hamlet of East Howdon is to the south west. The Royal Quays Outlet Centre and Northumbrian Water's treatment works lie between the village and the River Tyne.

References

{{authority control Populated places in Tyne and Wear North Shields