Mercantile Dry Docks

These two Dry Docks are not shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey plan, so were working from after 1855. They were built on part of the site of a Ballast Hill (HER ref. 2265), which was levelled and two adjacent graving docks constructed running at right angles from the River Tyne. The docks are positioned within a small yard to the north of Curlew Road with scattered buildings sitting to the east and west of the docks and along the southern boundary of the yard. Rail lines run between and to the east of the docks. By the time of the Third Edition Ordnance Survey (c.1920), a third, larger, graving dock had been added to the yard, which had been extended westwards. Little has been established about the company history of the site.