Armstrong's Elswick and Scotswood Works

Armstrong's Elswick and Scotswood Works formed the most important heavy engineering complex in the region in the late 19th century. William Armstrong started a small factory on the riverside at Elswick in 1847 making hydraulic machinery. In time the works expanded to encompass armaments and shipbuilding, and had extended more than a mile along the river bank by the opening of the 20th century. Armstrong's death in 1900 and the concentration on armaments led to the decline of the firm following the First World War. The company was taken over by Vickers in 1928. The Scotswood Works were closed in 1979 and demolished to make way for a new armaments factory which opened in 1982. The earlier complex is now the site of Newcastle Business Park. The main surviving structural remains of these works comprise a series of nine concrete arches on stone bases, with four partially blocked smaller arches, altogether in the region of 30 feet high and 70 yards in length. Further to the east are other structures, including the remains of three truncated arches. These surviving structures probably date from the earlier part of this century, so are not part of the original works.