Newcastle-upon-Tyne, or Newcastle, is a city in Tyne and Wear in North East England and is the most populous city in the region. Its development started in Roman times and fragments of Hadrian's Wall are visible in parts of it, for example on the West Road.

The historic heart of Newcastle is the Grainger Town area, established on classical streets between 1835 and 1842, which contains some of Newcastle upon Tyne's finest buildings including Grainger Market, Theatre Royal, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street. These buildings are predominantly four stories high, with vertical dormers, domes, turrets and spikes.

The Tyneside flat was the dominant housing form constructed at the time when the industrial centres on Tyneside were growing most rapidly and these terraces can still be found in areas such as South Heaton.

Council housing began to replace inner city slums in the 1920s, and the process continued into the 1970s, along with substantial private house building and acquisitions.

Significant Newcastle housing developments include Ralph Erskine's the Byker Wall designed in the 1960s.

New build developments include the apartments in Howard Street and Towers Avenue, West Jesmond; the detached houses in Gosforth, Whitehouse Farm and Killingworth and the twon houses in St Bartholomew's Court, Front Street Benton, among many others.

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county which came into existence in 1974. It is made up from 5 metropolitan boroughs; South Tyneside, North Tyneside, City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and the City of Sunderland. Adjacent counties include Northumberland and County Durham. Prior to 1974, the county's area straddled the River Tyne, with the north side in Northumberland and south side in Durham.

The most populated area in the county is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, which used to be synonymous with shipbuilding. Among many places of interest in the county are; Antony Gormley's famous 'Angel of the North' statue and the Beamish Museum, both in Gateshead; Hadrian's Wall, Jesmond Dene park, The Biscuit Factory and the Laing Art Gallery, all in Newcastle; Segedunum Roman Fort & Museum, Wallsend and St Mary's Island bird reserve, all in North Tyneside and the Museum and Winter Gardens in Sunderland.

There are 2 motorways in the county, the A1(M) and A194(M) and numerous trunk roads. The main transport hub is Newcastle, which offers fast, direct railway services to London King's Cross (duration around 3 hours) and many other major conurbations.

Coal was discovered in the area in 1234 and Newcastle became the first coal port in the world. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Gateshead is the first rotating bridge ever built in the world. Italian Revolutionary Guiseppe Garibaldi lived on Tyneside for a few months on his way to foment the Italian irredentist movement. He lived in Tynemouth and Blaydon, and the garibaldi biscuit was invented by local bakers to commemorate his stay!