South Shore Brick Works. 1858
(Source: Davison, P J, 1986. Brickworks of the North East, 133, site 9)

A 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.

Tyne Main Colliery.

A railway loop from Tyne Main Colliery, (SMR 3512), to Gateshead Iron Works, (SMR 3504).

Saw Mill and Timber Yard.

The 'Cinder Quay' belonged to the Marley Hill Colliery, and it consisted of a single battery of coke ovens ranged along the north side of South Shore Road. These were fed by coal brought from the colliery via the Lobley Hill branch of the North Eastern Railway to the Oakwellgate depot of the Brandling Junction Railway, which was then transferred to the inclined tubway and carried down to the Brandling Junction Staith from where coal was transferred onto a short railway line into the oven complex. Technologically the Marley Hillcokeworks was a relative latecomer to the south bank of the Tyne, where 'cynder ovens' had been in existence in the Salt meadows area since at least 1745. By 1858 the 'South Shore Coke Works' had been supplemented by another battery of ovens closer to the river. These had been built after 1851 and the whole complex was fed by an overhead railway which was served by a branch line from the bottom of the Brandling Junction incline. References to the Coke Ovens in the trade directories cease after 1890, from which it might be inferred that production had ended. In 1893 the Marley Hill Colliery had no less than 230 coke ovens actually on the colliery site, suggesting that the South Shore Ovens were unnecessary and perhaps uneconomic by this time. The coke oven structures were still on the site in 1898 (OS 2).

Timber Yard.

Historic Ordnance Survey map evidence shows an Iron Warehouse at this location.

Timber Yard.

The Park Iron Works, established by John Abbot and Company. John Abbot had been a brazier in Gateshead in 1795. By 1825 he had a small works in Bush Yard, Oakwellgate, where brass, copper and pewter work was carried out, and cables, chains and nails were manufactured. He added three fields to his lease in 1835 and the works became the Park Iron Works. By 1841 the workforce was 640, making anchors, chains, chain cables and nails. By 1889 the workforce was up to 2000 and the variety of products much wider. Lack of specialisation led to trouble and voluntary liquidation in 1909. By 1914 the site was cleared. The first buildings of Abbot and Company's Park Iron Works were built in 1834. The firm was founded in Gateshead High Street by Joseph Abbot, brassfounder and coppersmith in 1770. On his death in 1812, Joseph Abbot was succeeded by his son, John, who moved the firm to Oakwellgate in around 1825 and subsequently undertook great expansion of the business. On the 25 March 1835 John Abbot of Gateshead, described as a 'manufacturer & dealer in copper, brass, iron and lead' took a lease of three fields on the east side of Maiden's Walk. These were the North West Close and South West Close (which had been divided into two fields before 1827), part of the Park Estate. An undated plan by Thomas Bell shows the initial development of the works - called the Park Iron Works - confined to the eastern field boundary of the North and South West Closes, but about to expand eastwards. The works expanded rapidly in the course of its first ten years, spreading eastwards to obliterate the earlier field boundaries (Oliver 1844). By the mid-19th century the Park Iron Works had virtually reached the limit of expansion, and the ground between Maiden's Walk and Mill Lane was a mass of forges, workshops, moulding houses and warehouses. The company was chiefly concerned with the manufacture of chains, anchors, boilers, cranes, steam and hydraulic machinery, but the works also contained a brass foundry and copper workshops. They turned out tinware and pewter pots and undertook domestic and marine plumbing. There was even a Japanning shop, suggesting that some of the products were 'fancy goods'. The works were supplied with coal from Maiden's Walk Coal Drops. By 1898 the works had its own internal railway system, connected to the old Oakwellgate Colliery wagonway. The complex of buildings is well illustrated by a late 19th century engraving of the works. The Park Works remained active until the early years of 20th century, as late as 1907, employing 1,180 people, but pressure from fierce competition led to its rapid demise, and the firm closed in 1909. By 1913 the site was completely cleared of standing buildings and the only traces of the Park Iron Works now visible are fragments of brick and stone walls at the north east end of Maiden's Walk.