Trow Rock Floating Platform

HER Number

870

District

S Tyneside

Site Name

Trow Rock Floating Platform

Place

South Shields

Map Sheet

NZ36NE

Class

Defence

Site Type: Broad

Fortification

Site Type: Specific

Gun Emplacement

General Period

POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Victorian 1837 to 1901

Form of Evidence

Extant Building

Description

The site of Hiram Maxim's experimental 'floating platform', a cylinder, stood in water, which rose when gas was pumped in above the water, and fell when the gas was released. A standard naval gun was mounted on top of the cylinder and would be concealed while being loaded, and then rise out of the pit to fire. Constructed 1886-7 for the Inspector General of Fortifications for experimental trials, but proved to be too slow and was abandoned. In 1894 the machinery and ironwork was removed and the pit filled. Described as a concrete cylinder, with 21 feet internal diameter, and a western extension for approach tunnel. The Interior shows runners for a floating platform and entrance to the tunnel. A replica has been constructed. LISTED GRADE 2

Easting

438360

Northing

566670

Grid Reference

NZ438360566670

Sources

<< HER 870 >> R. Hogg, 1984,The Tyne Turrets: Coastal Defence in the First World War, Fort, Vol 12, p 97-103 and Vol. 14
D.H. Clarke & A. Rudd, 1989, The Defences of Tyneside, Trow Rock, South Shields, Fortress Study Group Conference, pp. 7-8
D. Clarke & A. Rudd, The Trow Rock Floating Platform, p 55-60; English Heritage, 2008, Hadrian's Wall National Mapping Programme, 602135; Aerial Photographs RAF 58/B/32 5200 16-MAY-1948; Archaeological Research Services, 2010, Phase 2 North East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment, Project Record Number 119; NECT, 2015, National Heritage at Risk Grade II Project