South Shields has an Anglo-Saxon or medieval name referring to ‘Scheles’ – temporary fishermen’s huts, sheds or shelters on the south side of the Tyne. It is not known when South Shields acquired the name.
Anciently, South Shields was the site of a Roman fort and a Saxon monastery (see Roman and Saxon South Shields) but the name South Shields is not recorded until 1228 when the place is called ‘the Sheales upon the South’.