South Tyneside: See
1 Arbeia Roman Fort, Baring Street, South Shields NE33 2BB, ☏ +44 191 277-1409. Apr-Sep: Mon-Fri 10AM-5PM, Sat 11AM-4PM, Sun 2-5PM. Site of a large Roman fort: the west gatehouse, barracks and commander's quarters have been reconstructed. This was the supply base for Hadrian's Wall, which began at Wallsend on the north riverbank and marched westward up hill down dale to the Solway beyond Carlisle. It was also the depot for expeditions further north against the Picts or Scots. "Arbeia" means "of the Arabs". In the 2nd and 3rd century it was garrisoned by recruits from Singara, now Sinjar in Iraq. One grave monument mourns the British wife of Barates, a merchant from Palmyra in Syria. Another commemorates Victor, a young Moorish freed slave. Castra canis amica est: the fort is dog-friendly. Free. (updated Dec 2021)
2 South Shields lighthouse is at the end of the 5150-ft (1.57-km) pier, completed in 1895. It's just a stubby navigation light, like its counterpart on the north pier from Tynemouth: the long-range lighthouse is Souter, see below. It's complemented at the landward end by Herd Groyne lighthouse, completed in 1867, and resembling the love-child of a Wild West railroad watertower and a Triffid.
Marine Park is the pleasant green space between the Roman Fort and the pier. There are sandy beaches and a funfair, see below. On Ocean Rd which bisects the park are the sturdy Lifeboat Memorial and the Tyne Lifeboat of 1833.
South Shields Museum and Art Gallery, Ocean Road NE33 2JA (north side of Metro station), ☏ +44 191 211-5599. Mon-Fri 10AM-5PM, Sat 11AM-4PM. Council-run museum featuring collections and artifacts of Catherine Cookson (1906-1998), the prolific author of historical romances. The art collection mainly has 19th and 20th century work by British artists, with an emphasis on local subjects. Free. (updated Dec 2021)
The Word (National Centre for the Written Word), 45 Market Place, South Shields NE33 1JF (by South Shields ferry pier), ☏ +44 191 427-1818. Mon-Thu 9AM-7PM, Fri 9AM-5PM, Sat Sun 10AM-4PM. The municipal library houses this cultural centre with exhibitions and events around the written word. Free. (updated Dec 2021)
Westoe a mile south of South Shields is nowadays engulfed by the main town but preserves an attractive village centre with limited vehicle access. It was often the setting for the fiction of Catherine Cookson, but its greatest legacy is the Westoe Netty, a Victorian public toilet, now in Beamish Museum. …