Walbottle Wagonway, Coronation Pit Branch

HER Number:
3938

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Walbottle Wagonway, Coronation Pit Branch

Place:
Walbottle

Map Sheet:
NZ16NE

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Walbottle Wagonway, Coronation Pit branch was laid c.1820 and ran from the Colliery to Lemington Staiths. It was improved and extended to North Walbottle Colliery (HER ref. 4235) in 1892 and appears on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey plan of c.1895 renamed as the North Walbottle Wagonway. This wagonway ran on part of the line of the earlier Holywell Reins Wagonway. It closed in 1968 at which time it was the last self acting incline in Northumberland. The railway tunnel which carried the wagonway was found to survive during a watching brief at a new coach depot at Blucher. The tunnel was 4 metres in width and over 2.3 metres high. It was of brick construction and had a roof of iron girders and concrete. The roof was only 0.2 metres below ground level. The tunnel had been bricked up to the north, but remained open to the south.

Easting:
1778

Northing:
6738

Grid Reference:
NZ17786738

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 3938 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, 1864, 6 inch scale, Northumberland, 96 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, 1864, 6 inch scale, Northumberland, 97 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map, 1898, 6 inch scale, Northumberland, 87, SE I M. Ayris, Blucher, Tyne and Wear SMR, Newcastle File ASUD, 2003, Keith's Coaches, Hexham Road, Blucher, Watching brief and evaluation report; Tyne Industrial Archaeology Group, Fieldwork in Progress, Walbottle Incline Place in Archaeological Newsbulletin of Northumberland Cumberland and Westmorland, No. 3, Sept 1968, page 7; Alan Williams Archaeology, 2012, Waggonways North of River Tyne: Tyne and Wear HER Enhancement Project