Pow Burn

"The mouth of Pow Dene is now North Shields Fish Quay and it has always been the first safe harbour on the north side of the river. Here two ancient light houses stand each side of the Fish Quay inlet marking the line of the channel into the Tyne, one stands close to sea level the other on a cliff above. The 'low lights' have long been an important landing and trading point. This would have started with salmon and coal, salt and grain. One of the first Tyne railways, the Chirton to North Shields waggonway was opened in 1769 along the side of the Dene. A little later the strategic location of the Low Lights with its command of the river mouth was recognised by the building of Clifford's Fort during the Napolionic Wars. Northumberland Park is the upper section of the Dene which is separated from the River and North Shields by a large embankment which crosses the Dene to carry Tynemouth Road and the Newcastle to Tynemouth Railway. The lower part of the Dene is now known as Tanners Bank and the Low Lights." (Source: Riverscape, Newcastle Arts Centre)

Pow Dean was once navigable from the Fish Quay to Northumberland Park. A plaque at the top of the bank reads: "Governor's Tree. Site of the Governor's Tree where important visitors to Tynemouth were met as they disembarked in Pow Burn. These visitors included King Charles I in 1633 and King Henry VIII's commissioners, when they came to dispossess the monks of Tynemouth Priory in 1539."