ABSTRACT
Environmental regulation in the early modern Tyne estuary became increasingly regularised, more proactive and ultimately more efficient over the course of three centuries. Indeed, the Royal Commission, which was sent to Newcastle in 1855 to ascertain why so little progress had been made on river improvement, opened by explaining that 'during the last two or three centuries all the evidence would lead to the conclusion that a very general similarity has been maintained in the state of the Tyne', confirming that 'the navigable state of the river has not been much altered'. They had maintained it, but they had not improved it. Referring to the River Tyne Court minutes, Ralph Gardner's England's Grievance Rediscovered (1655), Newcastle Corporation minutes, descriptions of the 1771 and 1815 Tyne flood events and many other documents, this chapter argues that attempts to control and manage the Tyne became increasingly well informed and sophisticated between 1529 and 1800.
