Newcastle Upon Tyne commonly known as Newcastle which is in a city in Tyne & Wear, North East England (103 miles South of Edinburgh and 277 miles North of London) on the northern bank of the River Tyne which is also 8.5 miles from the North Sea.

 

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Newcastle is the most populous city in the North East & Tyneside the eighth most populous conurbation in the UK. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400 when it became a county itself.

 

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A status it retained until becoming part of Tyne & Wear in 1974. The regional nickname and dialect for people from Newcastle and the surrounding area is Geordie. The city developed around the Roman settlement Pons Aelius and was named after the castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conqueror's eldest son.

 

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The city grew as an important centre for the wool trade in the 14th century and later became a major coal mining area.