This thesis reconstructs part of the deglacial and early post-glacial history of the River Tyne Valley, Northumberland. Data has been gathered through description and interpretation of sedimentary sequences and stratigraphies from quarry and cut-bank exposure, the development of a geochronology was attempted, based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and broad-scale geomorphological mapping using traditional field mapping and appropriately scaled digital elevation models from
NEXTMap Britain.

The thesis contributes new detailed sedimentological and morphological data, and has re-evaluated existing data sets and interpretations. A number of sites have been investigated in very close detail, and the sedimentological analyses provide a much better understanding of their formational environment than morphological studies alone can do. The research in the Tyne Valley contributes to the growing body of work carried out by the extensive morphological mapping programs, with the detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic data vital for ground truthing remotely-sensed landform interpretations. The story of deglaciation in Britain is a complex one and the work here illustrates that we are far from understanding the behaviour of the ice during the last glacial period, and certainly there is not a one model fits all solution.