Cook and Nicholson Ltd. Wear File Works

File Manufactory, on the south side of Richmond Street. This file manufactory is under construction on the first edition OS of 1859. Cook and Nicholson are listed as the proprietors after 1864 and continued manufacture until the works closed in 1987. The premises were then bought vy the Edward Thompson Group who ran the Bridge Foundry (HER 17570). The works produced a range of goods including chisels, taps, dies, hammers, files and engine room fittings, mostly for the shipbuilding and colliery markets. Following closure the works were demolished and the site became a car park. Archaeological remains may therefore survive.