Birtley, Blackfell Engine

HER Number

3915

District

Gateshead

Site Name

Birtley, Blackfell Engine

Place

Birtley

Map Sheet

NZ25NE

Class

Industrial

Site Type: Broad

Machinery

Site Type: Specific

Engine

General Period

POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Hanoverian 1714 to 1837

Form of Evidence

Documentary Evidence

Description

Blackfell Engine with it's associated reservoirs on the Pelaw Main Wagonway. The first ever fixed engine used for hauling wagons was erected on Birtley Fell in 1808 by Samuel Cooke, one of the owners of the Bewicke Main or Urpeth Colliery, when forming a wagonway to the River Tyne. It began working on the 17th May, 1809, drawing four chauldron wagons up the plane.

Easting

427960

Northing

555970

Grid Reference

NZ427960555970

Sources

<< HER 3915 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, c.1855, 6 inch scale, Durham, 13; W.W. Tomlinson, 1914, The North Eastern Railway - Its Rise and Development, p 18