Gas House.

A Clay Pit.

A branching wagonway system serving various sites in the Salt Meadows area of Gateshead.

Pitch Manufactory.

Ballast Hill. Many ships coming to the Tyne to load coal entered the river 'light' or 'in ballast'. This means that no cargo was being carried. In the absence of cargo, the ballast gives the vessel stability. Ships returning from London coal voyages often carried shingle or chalk as ballast. Sand and other materials were also used. Over the centuries, great hills of ballast grew along both banks of the Tyne. There were substantial ballast hills near Bill Point Walker, Willington Quay, Hebburn, Jarrow and North and South Shields. Ships were charged fees to unload their ballast. By the early 1820s this was about 20p per ton. To avoid the fee some masters resorted to the dangerous act of discharging ballast before entering harbour. One estimate suggests that some 20% of all imported ballast ended up in the river, risking the Tyne silting up.

During the 1820s Charles Attwood established a glass works on the South Shore at Salt Meadows. In 1825 he obtained a licence to build a staith. In 1834 he added other buildings including a sawmill. In 1835 he is described as conducting a "manufacture for soda". Attwood's holdings were bought by Christian Allhusen in 1840, and a new period of expansion began. In 1841 the premises of nearby soap makers were added, and the new concern was advertised as manufacturing "soap, alkali, Glauber Salts and Epsom Salts". The next twenty years were spent in steady expansion with vacant ground on the site being filled with buildings and new land being acquired around the perimeter. Christian Allhusen was joined by his son Wilton and his nephew Alfred in 1862 and 1866 respectively. Soon afterwards plans were made to increase the capital of the company, and in 1872 the successful Newcastle Chemical Works Company was launched. By this time the Works had been running as an Alkali Plant utilising the Leblanc process. A plan of the Allhusen Works in 1891 shows some interesting features. By far the largest section was that devoted to the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Thirty chambers were accommodated in four groups, each group being approximately 200ft square. There were bleaching works which utilised reclaimed hydrochloric acid. Claus Kilns were used to produce pure sulphur. Considerable space within Allhusen's was also devoted to the preparation of caustic soda, later to be the mainstay of the works. In the older process, quicklime was used, and this was prepared in a lime house at the west end of the works. The later process for making caustic soda depended upon cheap electric power, and, as this was available on Tyneside, consignments of brine were brought from Billingham to Gateshead in tank-wagons, and there electrolysed to caustic soda. This was the last branch of the alkali trade to operate on Tyneside. In 1895 the Allhusen Works site covered 137 acres and employed 1,200 men. In 1891 the works were taken over by the United Alkali Company where production concentrated on caustic soda. The Ordnance Survey map of 1916 shows the extent of the chemical works working at record outputs during World War One. One of the first nerve gases produced at the works was phosgene, which was first used in World War One in December 1915. Allhusen's also incorporated an armaments filling factory and had its own sawmill and cooperage. By 1916 there were approximately 2000 workers at Allhusen's. By the end of the War the north east chemical industry was concentrated on Teesside. In 1926 the United Alkali Company became part of Imperial Chemical Industries. The Gateshead Works were run down. From 1924 some of the buildings were demolished, some taken over by small firms requiring sheds or garage space. By 1927 most of the works were re-let as small factories and garages. Demolition continued from 1930 to 1932, when one of the last great chimneys was felled in 1932. The Ordnance Survey edition of 1942 shows that the chemical works had closed. The estimated two million tonne spoil heap to the south-east of what was Allhusen's was still smouldering in 1951, and was found to contain a mixture of lime ideally suited for agricultural use. Operations to extract lime from the spoil began in 1953, continuing into 1963. The whole area lay derelict for some 20 years. The land recovered from this "Great Heap" was incorporated in East Gateshead Riverside Park which developed in 1966 {2}. There is a photograph of bleach packers at Allhusen's Works in the 1870s in Atkinson 1980.

Wylams Patent Fuel Works.

Engine and Shipbuilding Yard. Presumably this is the engineering firm of Clarke Chapman, who started at South Shore in the 1860s under William Clarke, an engineer who had worked for Armstrong at Elswick. New premises were taken on St James' Road in 1874 (HER 4360) and Captain William Chapman joined the firm, followed by C.A. Parsons three years later {2}. The works concentrated on making winches, later boilers and electricity generating plants. Clarke Chapman's later claimed to be the biggest assembly works in Europe. In 1970 Clarke Chapman Ltd merged with John Thomson of Wolverhampton {3}.

Deptford Iron Works. Built by 1819 by Hawks, Crawshay & Sons. Named after the company's warehouse at Deptford. Shown on Oliver's plan of 1830 and Reid's plan of 1882.

Tyne Soap Manufactory. Anthony Clapham, a Quaker, moved his soap factory from Ballast Hills to Friar's Goose in 1827, following continuous prosecutions for causing a public nuisance - the reclamation of black ash from the soap lees made a disagreeable smell. The movement of the works to Friar's Goose effectively opened out the South Shore to Bill Quay, establishing the largest area of chemical works in the district. Soap manufacture was in progress here from 1829 and soda manufacture from 1831. Clapham's Chimney (HER 5598) was built after this date. By 1839 an educational society and library had been added to the complex. In 1852 the factory was bought by Gray and Crowe to make bicarbonate of soda and Epsom Salts. It was sold at auction to Jarrow Alkali Works in 1858 and both were taken over by United Alkali in 1891.