The main industries which helped the town prosper were coal mining and shipbuilding, with the salt trade, fishing, and the railways also playing an important role.

The oldest archaeological find is an antler hammer dating from the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age period, which was found at Newsham in 1979.

[3] At Easter in 1887, William Morris, the poet and interior designer, met and addressed a considerable crowd of striking miners in the market square in Blyth.

The Slake was a tidal inlet which stretched south from the river, across the site of today's bus station, along the route of Beaconsfield Street, and on past Crofton Mill Pit.

[24] As the demand for coal fell, due to the increasing use of oil, natural gas and nuclear power as energy sources,[25] the following years saw the closure of many collieries in the area.

[2] The geology of the area is made up of a carboniferous bedrock of sandstone, mudstone, and coal, which is covered mainly by boulder clay and till.

Compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, the weather there is relatively stable, and extreme conditions, such as floods, droughts, or heatwaves, are rare.

The Port of Blyth was first recorded from 1138, when monks at Newminster Abbey exported salt, having created it from pans on the north side of the river and evaporated using the copious supplies of local coal.

By 1730 specific coaling and ballast quays existed, and by 1765 the ports facilities included a pilot house and lighthouse, to facilitate the newly built first breakwater, North Dyke.

[45] After World War 2, whilst most ports began to quickly contract, Blyth was still a major facility through the 1960s, when coal exports reached over 6 M tonnes per year.

The establishment of an Alcan aluminium smelting facility in the 1970s 5 mi (8 km) north along the river slowed this decline, as did the import of paper from Finland.

It has since diversified into logistics areas including import and export packing, customer depot facilities, distribution and storage, ships agency and European and worldwide forwarding.

[48] With the running down of the coal mining and shipbuilding industries, Blyth largely exists today as a dormitory town in the commuter belt serving Newcastle and North Tyneside.

[50] A twice weekly container service between the port and Moerdijk, near Rotterdam, provides connections with the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and France as well as South America and the Far East.

If the plans go ahead, it is estimated that 1,500 jobs will be created for the construction, with another 200 full-time staff required for the running of the plant, which would open in 2014 on the site of the old power station.

[60] These plans have, however, met some opposition; many residents living in the area feel that the land should be redeveloped for other purposes, rather than continue to be used as an industrial site.

[62] In July 2021, plans for the £2.6bn gigafactory employing 3,000 people were approved, with the new plant to be located on former coalyards adjacent to the now-demolished power station in Cambois, near Blyth.

[73] However, the negotiations dragged on into the summer of 2023,[74] amid continued uncertainty surrounding the deal and the finances of Recharge's parent, Scale Facilitation.

[82] On 14 March 2009, the market was officially reopened following a £3 million refurbishment, which involved the installation of new paving, seating, lighting, and a water feature.

[83] The centrepiece is an artwork by Simon Watkinson, named Hyperscope; the 7.5 metres (25 ft) stainless steel column incorporates lighting effects and represents the town's coal mining heritage and history as a wartime submarine base.

[85] However, the project has received criticism; following approval of the proposals in June 2007, concern was raised by Councillor Alisdair Gibbs-Barton, who said that the market place was beginning to resemble a park, and that more trade should be being encouraged.

Opened on 1 September 2000 as Blyth Community College[94] following the amalgamation of Ridley (formerly Newlands) and Tynedale high schools and built on the site of the latter, it is designed to accommodate 1,450 pupils and also serves as a centre for lifelong learning classes.

The episode followed the daily life of four students at home, at school and at the workplace, as they endeavour to become the engineers of the future and contribute to Blyth's resurgence as a modern industrial powerhouse.

[107][108] Since 2014, Blyth Town Council has organised the Northumberland Live Festival every year in June on a meadow right next to the North Sea beach.

[123] The Quayside is a stretch of the riverfront that was once a centre of Blyth's industry, where coal would be loaded from trains onto ships for export, but having undergone major redevelopment, it is now a clean and peaceful area.

[124] Notable features of the Quayside include the "Spirit of the Staithes" sculpture and eleven "solar sound posts" which, when approached, replay pre-recorded stories relating to the port told by local people.

[125][126] Blyth's largest and most natural open space is its beach and sand dunes, which stretch from the mouth of the river to Seaton Sluice.

They are notable for their diverse range of plant life, butterflies, moths, and birds, as well as being one of only two coastal locations in the country inhabited by both species of banded land snail—Cepaea nemoralis and Cepaea hortensis.

As part of the overall regeneration of the Quayside, it was commissioned by Blyth Valley Council in conjunction with Northern Arts and created by the artist Simon Packard.

[133] On the north side of the River Blyth are the remains of the railway coal staithes which featured in the chase scene at the end of the 1971 film Get Carter, starring Michael Caine.