North Hylton, Nab End Shipbuilding Yards

Five timber shipbuilding yards are shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map on the west bank of the River Wear at Nab End opposite South Hylton. When the yards were founded is uncertain, but they were typical of timber shipyards on the Wear, containing few facilities other than saw pits and cranes along with a few scattered structures, probably smithies and stores. A waggonway also ran along the edge of the steep heugh at the rear of the yards and may well have supplied some raw materials. The Nab End yards had ceased to function by the time of the Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (1898) and the riverside is shown as empty save for a few scattered structures and rows of buildings at the northern edge of the site. The site remains largely undeveloped.