A 1950 aerial view of the long gone Ballast Hill and surrounds,thanks to the 'Britain from Above' website.
Ballast Hills were created when sea-going vessels came into the Tyne to collect coal. They couldnt come empty or they'd be unstable at sea so sand was used to make the vessel stable. The ballast was removed and dumped & the vessel left the river with its cargo of coal. There were quite a few ballast hills along the riverside.
What foriegn seeds/plants/beetles might have been in the ballast? We had coal vessels from all over Europe coming here for coal.