Tynemouth Guide
Knott’s Flats
34. Sir James Knott
This enormous landmark dominates the harbour and is named in memory of Sir James Knott (1855-1934), a local philanthropist who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the richest men in the country through his Prince shipping line, which he began with one vessel.
Knott’s Flats were built during the Depression of the 1930s in order to accomodate families from the slums that were cleared on the Fish Quay. The flats were built in the style of the first large scale social housing in London at the time, incorporating balconies with panoramic views while employing fire resistant blocks and high strength concrete to make the building safe and practically impregnable to air raids.
35. World War 2
There is a piece of modern Tynemouth folklore which states that during WW2, the Luftwaffe were expressley commanded to avoid striking Knott’s Flats, as the building had been earmarked as billets for officers of the Kriegsmarine, should Operation Sealion, i.e. the invasion of Britain, have been enacted. It is possible that Hitler viewed the Tyne region, directly opposite the German coast, as his base from which to conquer the North. In this scenario he could have even occupied the Grand Hotel straight down the road as his HQ (replete with outdoor swimming pool on the Longsands!). Here we may be getting carried away with hypotheticals, but still we may wonder why these standout structures, along with the Plaza, were left untouched…
Tynemouth Guide
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No air-built castles, and no fairy bowers,
But thou, fair Tynemouth, and thy well-known towers,
Now bid th’ historic muse explore the maze
Of long past years, and tales of other days.
Pride of Northumbria!—from thy crowded port,
Where Europe’s brave commercial sons resort,
Her boasted mines send forth their sable stores,
To buy the varied wealth of distant shores.
Here the tall lighthouse, bold in spiral height,
Glads with its welcome beam the seaman’s sight.
Here, too, the firm redoubt, the rampart’s length,
The death-fraught cannon, and the bastion’s strength,
Hang frowning o’er the briny deep below,
To guard the coast against th’ invading foe.
Here health salubrious spreads her balmy wings,
And woos the sufferer to her saline springs;
And, here the antiquarian strays around
The ruin’d abbey, and its sacred ground.
Jane Harvey
From ‘The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale’ (1806)
Photograph: Lee Stoneman
Photograph: Lee Stoneman
No air-built castles, and no fairy bowers,
But thou, fair Tynemouth, and thy well-known towers,
Now bid th’ historic muse explore the maze
Of long past years, and tales of other days.
Pride of Northumbria!—from thy crowded port,
Where Europe’s brave commercial sons resort,
Her boasted mines send forth their sable stores,
To buy the varied wealth of distant shores.
Here the tall lighthouse, bold in spiral height,
Glads with its welcome beam the seaman’s sight.
Here, too, the firm redoubt, the rampart’s length,
The death-fraught cannon, and the bastion’s strength,
Hang frowning o’er the briny deep below,
To guard the coast against th’ invading foe.
Here health salubrious spreads her balmy wings,
And woos the sufferer to her saline springs;
And, here the antiquarian strays around
The ruin’d abbey, and its sacred ground.
Jane Harvey
From ‘The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale’ (1806)
