So
Autumn is here already. We have either completed or we are in the process of finishing
most of the landscaping works we had forecast.
Grants
have been received from Northern Rock Foundation, Gateshead Health Trust, National
Lottery Charities Board and European Regional Development Fund. Rather an interesting
dissertation from our guest writer this quarter so more at Christmas.
Trevor
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“AFTER
YOUR VISIT...”
To
add even more to a visit to the restored Path Head Water Mill, visitors in the
future might wander through the industrial archaeologically fascinating Blaydon
Burn.
Once
a peaceful valley, Blaydon Burn saw the development of firstly water powered industries
and processes and later more disruptive mining and quarrying activities. The valley
originally depended on the burn as a source of power, and developed in the nineteenth
century by exploiting the local coal and clay deposits which could be reached
with relative ease via drift mines cut into the valley sides. This pattern of
development was paralleled in a number of the steep sided valley which flowed
into the Tyne, for example the Ouseburn and the Skinnerburn on the north side
of the river.
The
fast flowing stream brought the construction of a number of corn mills. There
are thought to have been six mills on the burn in 1632. It was, however, the exploitation
of the deposits in the ground which was to radically affect the area from the
eighteenth century onwards. Local clay was used for the manufacture of bricks
in Cowen’s two brick works located at each end of the valley. In tandem
with the removal of clay came the mining of coal, at first sporadically and later
within the more organised setting of the Blaydon Burn Colliery. To support these
industries a network of sidings and, eventually, screens (or sorting sheds) were
built. The wagonway which ran down the valley in the first half of the nineteenth
century became a focal point of activity as the century unfolded.
During
the second half of the nineteenth century, the importance of the water supply
waned. At this time industry thrived here because of the coal and clay. The water
course of the burn had been dammed in several places to provide a suitable head
of water for the valley industries. these dams and associated weirs fell out of
use as the mills closed down. In the later 1850’s, seven mills were working
in the area, by the 1890’s all but one had closed.
In
the twentieth century the coal and coke industry dominated Blaydon Burn. A set
of coke ovens was constructed alongside the course of the wagonway but these were
later superseded by the Coke and Tar Works on the eastern side of the valley.
The tar works were the first in the world to produce petrol from coal. The product
was known as Blaydon Benzole, and later became known as National Benzole.
With
the closure of the colliery, the coke works, tar works and the upper brickwork's
the second phase of industrial activity came to an end, leaving several scars
but, at the same time, a historical legacy in an area which is now returning to
its former tranquillity.
Ian
Ayris
Tyne and Wear Industrial Archaeologist
(Specialist Conservation
Team)
NEXT
NEWSLETTER DECEMBER ‘99
