IT is said that the final straw for the Northumbrian people of Whitley, fed up with their post always being delivered 70 miles down the coast to Whitby in North Yorkshire, came in September 1901.
A man from Whitley had the misfortune to die in Edinburgh and his body was put on the train at Waverley to be delivered to his hometown in time for his funeral.
All his friends and family were gathered in the church waiting for him to arrive at the end of his final journey when it emerged that the railway company had sent him to Whitby, where they are used to having unburied people hanging around.
SEE MORE: A TOUR OF THE THE NORTH EAST COAST IN VINTAGE RAILWAY POSTERS
The people of the small coastal settlement of Whitley had a vote among themselves and decided to add Bay to their name so that neither their post nor their dead ever again went astray.
An aerial view over Whitley Bay in February 1964 with the dome of the Spanish City in the centre
It was the train line from Blyth to Tynemouth that passed through Whitley in 1862 that began its conversion from a fishing and coal mining place into one of Tyneside’s tourist resorts, a process that was capped when in 1910 the famous Spanish City tearoom and musichall was opened.
A postcard sent from Whitley Bay to Darlington in 1912 showing an extremely busy beach. The message on the back says: "Enjoying the champions." What can it mean?
A 1931 postcard showing the Spanish City in its full glory
The only thing Spanish about the Spanish City was that it was designed for the Toreador Concert Party to play there. The City took just 80 days to build using revolutionary reinforced concrete and when it officially opened on May 14, 1910, the 75ft high dome was the second largest in the country after the one on St Paul's Cathedral in London.
The famous domed Spanish City in 1980
Over the decades, a fairground with rides and a pleasure garden became part of the attractions to the Spanish City, and it became synonymous with seaside fun. As Marc Knopfler wrote in Dire Straits’s 1984 track, Tunnel of Love:
And girl it looks so pretty to me
Like it always did
Like the Spanish City to me
When we were kids.
The corkscrew ride at the Spanish City in Whitley Bay in 1984
The fairground closed in the 1990s, but the Spanish City has itself been reborn after a period of dereliction.
St Mary's Lighthouse on a calm day in June 1963
Whitley’s other great attraction is St Mary’s lighthouse, situated on the tidal Bate Island which until a causeway was built in 1929 was reached by stepping stones. The 151ft high lighthouse was built in 1898, and although it was decommissioned in 1984, it is still a draw to the seaside daytrippers.
SEE MORE: OUR WONDERFUL COAST IN ALL ITS WIDE-EYED GLORY
St Mary's Lighthouse, near Whitley Bay, on an Echo photo dated March 1931
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