Coals from Newcastle

[rosamundjohn]

Can anyone explain coals from Newcastle?

[paddywak]

I think it should be Coals To Newcasltle meaning something that is absolutley pointless. It stems from the days when Newcastle was the centre of a the m ain mining area of England and exported coal all round the world, so sending coal there was a needless excercise

[dzug]

Should really be coals TO Newcastle - the collieries there supplied London with a lot of its coal (by sea) in Victorian times.

So carrying coal TO Newcastle was a pointless exercise, doing something that wasn't needed..

[Wop/tpo]

London still got much of its coal from the newcastle area
during WW2. The colliers had to run the gauntlet of Stuka
attacks before and during the Battle of Britain. Several of them were sunk with loss of life.