Tyne Improvement Commission Repair Yard

This site was built over Howdon Dock (HER ref. 2108) and Howdon Pans Shipyard (HER ref. 2110). The yard was used for repairing the Tyne Improvement Commissions ferries and other craft. The Second Edition Ordnance Survey plan shows the yard in about 1895 formed around a substantial dock, enclosed in battered stone walls to the east and west, and incorporating a projecting riverside pier on its south-western side. Two adjacent repair-slipways run at right angles towards the river along the eastern edge of the dock. A number of buildings are present and rail lines serve all areas. Mooring dolphins, for vessels waiting for attention, dot the edge of the river. The site was taken over in the early 1980s by William Press Ltd for work on offshore platforms.