Description

87p “King’s Meadow Island” stamp, issued in 2023, depicting the location of the former island in the River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead.

This is a fantasy issue, created by ourselves, with no local postal function.

U/M / Unmounted Mint / MNH / Mint Never Hinged.

About King’s Meadow Island

We have produced our own 2023 issue for King's Meadow Island - intended as a one-off, for now - which we believe may be the only Cinderella stamp for an island that used to exist but does not any longer.

The spelling of the island's name varies - it is sometimes referred to as Kingsmeadow Island, The King's Meadows or King's Meadows Island, with or without an apostrophe - but however you choose to write it, its story is a fascinating one.

We were particularly keen to celebrate King's Meadow Island because its location was very close to where our online shop is based, in Gateshead. Covering around 30 acres, the flat and green King's Meadow Island sat in the middle of the River Tyne, between Elswick (now part of Newcastle) to the north and Dunston (now in Gateshead) to the south, though the island itself was, like the nearby north bank, considered part of Northumberland.

In the 18th century the island hosted a public house called the Countess of Coventry, and over the years was also home to grazing cows, horse racing, and a regatta, all accessible via a local ferry service. However, the rapid industrialisation of Tyneside in the 19th century, which led to the establishment in 1850 of the Tyne Improvement Commission - the forerunner of today's Port of Tyne - meant that King's Meadow Island was a physical barrier to navigation on the Tyne. 

The island was therefore dredged away by the Tyne Improvement Commission, disappearing entirely between 1862 and 1887 - erasing part of Tyneside's history, but greatly facilitating the area's industrial progress. The 87p denomination used here is a nod to the year of the island's eventual removal.

Since 1990, the name of the lost island has been recalled in that of the nearby Kingsmeadow Community School, but, nearly a century and a half after its disappearance, there are signs that the island itself is making a comeback. The loss of the traditional industries on the Tyne means that there is no need to dredge the upper reaches of the river any more, with the result that mud and sediment is building back up again, and is clearly visible above the waterline - roughly where the island used to be - when the tide is low, as in the photograph used for this design. 

In a city known for its nightlife, it would perhaps be in keeping if the Countess of Coventry were one day to make a return in the middle of the Tyne!