ABSTRACT
This reappraisal of the history of the water trades community in Newcastle and along the lower river Tyne in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has provided the opportunity to gain a wider perspective of the true extent of the commercial and shipping activity. That existed in Newcastle upon Tyne and its hinterland during this critical period in its history. Examination of the working population of the lower River Tyne between 1600 and 1800, during the period when the community was dominated by the evolving coal trade, confirmed that the coal owners and their agents, the hostmen, controlled the development of the trade and significantly influenced the working lives of all those who worked as water tradesmen during this period. The study of the ownership of working boats and ships on the lower River Tyne in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries provided some new and interesting perspectives on the trading and investment of the time.
