Newcastle, Forth Banks, Leslie Terrace

HER Number:
11395

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, Forth Banks, Leslie Terrace

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Industrial House

Site Type: Specific:
Workers Cottage

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Demolished Building

Description:
This terrace was established by 1825 to provide workers houses for employees of adjacent factories. The name was changed to Leslie Terrace by 1945 (after Hawthorn Leslie & Co). Although the terrace has been demolished (1980s) there is still considerable evidence of these cottages visible. The site has not been redeveloped and is untidy and overgrown. Some of the city's earliest workers cottages. Old photographs show a substantial and quite grand row of three storey brick houses with basement coal cellars. In June 2012 an evaluation on the site of Leslie Terrace revealed cellars and walls. The cellar was built of clay bonded quite nicely dressed stone blocks (probably the rear and side walls of an earlier building shown on Hutton's plan of 1770) and had a brick herringbone floor. Beneath the floor was a waste deposit of clay with mortar, coal and sandstone inclusions and a thin possible ballast layer of yellow sand containing pieces of flint and shell. The cottages are shown on Woods plan of 1827. Mackenzie describes the site thus: "a double row of dwelling-houses, mostly occupied by workmen. Some of the higher houses, and Forth Row, near the top of the bank, are very neatly built". The bricks used in the houses averaged 60cm x 24cm x 12cm in size. By 1940 (fourth edition OS map) the houses had been remodelled. The kitchen areas were extended at the back and a concrete and brick yard constructed. The stairs to the upper level of houses were changed. The standing retaining wall to the rear of Leslie Terrace was recorded. The wall is 37m long and 4.2m high. It is built of red brick in English garden wall one-and-three bond with concrete coping. A half-turn stair gave access from the rear of Leslie Terrace to Wallis Entry and Pitman's Row. There are four narrow blocked round-arched windows with ashlar sills, one wider arched window and one doorway in the wall.

Easting:
2461

Northing:
6357

Grid Reference:
NZ24616357

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Newcastle City Council, 2001, South of Central Station Character Statement, p 25; PLB Consulting Ltd with Northern Counties Archaeological Services, 2001, The Stephenson Quarter, Newcastle upon Tyne - Conservation Plan and Archaeological Assessment; MacKenzie, 1827, Historical Account of Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Including the Borough of Gateshead; T. Frain and J. Scott, TWM Archaeology, 2012, Stephenson Quarter Phase 1 Area BCD (Cottages Site) - Archaeological Evaluation, Excavation and Building Recording; AD Archaeology, 2015, Site A and Site B-D Stephenson Quarter, Newcastle upon Tyne - Archaeological Watching Brief - Archaeological Watching Brief