The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1

THE PORTS, HARBOURS, WATERING-PLACES, And Picturesque Scenery OF GREAT BRITAIN. ILLUSTRATED BY VIEWS TAKEN ON THE SPOT, BY W. H. BARTLETT, J. D. HARDING, T. CRESWICK, AND OTHERS.
WITH DESCRIPTIONS, HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL.
VOL. I.
VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD AND IVY LANE, LONDON.
☞The arrangement adopted in this List is that of starting from the metropolis, and following the line of the Eastern coast of Great Britain as far northward as Banff, and then returning westward to the River Thames. But as the description of each plate is complete in a single leaf, and there is not any series of folios, the order can be varied at the taste of the purchaser, if directions to that effect be given to the binder.
VOLUME I.
Our present engraving is a view of Tynemouth Lighthouse and Priory, with the life-boat in the act of saving the crew of a vessel, which has struck upon the rocks at the foot of the cliff on which the lighthouse is built. This incident, so effectively and appropriately introduced by the artist, Balmer, who has frequently witnessed the scene which he has depicted, is peculiarly characteristic of the neighbourhood of Tynemouth; for, in consequence of the danger of the entrance to Shields Harbour in stormy weather, with the wind from the eastward, more vessels are there lost than at the entrance of any other harbour in Great Britain; and in no part of the kingdom has the value of the life-boat been more frequently experienced.
The view is taken from the entrance to Shields Harbour, about half a mile to the south-west of the lighthouse, which is seen rising from behind the extremity of the cliff which overlooks the entrance to Prior's Haven. Towards the centre of the land view are the ruins of Tynemouth Priory; while farther to the left, in the same distance, is seen the castle, now modernised and occupied as a garrison. The fore-ground to the left is the bank which forms the south-western boundary of Prior's Haven; and the rocks which are seen at its foot are a portion of the formidable Black Middens , which lie on the north side of the entrance to the harbour.