Subscription Brewery {1}. Behind the Customs House and Police Offices a much modified brewery has survived, of which the three storey brick built maltings block can still be identified {2}.

Swinburne's Glass Works. Also known as Cookson's, the works used the Ballast Wagonway (SMR 2427) to take waste to The Bents and to bring in coarse sand to use in grinding. The Glassworks were acquired in 1892 by the Harton Coal Company and demolished to give access to the Harton Low Staiths (SMR 2456) {3}. Cookson's Glassworks was, in the early 19th century the largest glass manufactory in the kingdom. Cookson's interest in this site began in the 18th century when John Cookson, son of Isaac Cookson, expanded the family's interests from its base in the iron and steel industry. Cookson's ownership of the site continued until the 1840s when the works passed to R. and W. Swinburne and Company. Swinburne's manufactured glass here until 1876. In 1865 James Swinburne took over as manager and appears to have instigated a number of changes to the site. A new complex of buildings was erected at about this time, of which the chimney (SMR 4983) was presumably a part. At a time of considerable decline in the glass industry of the area, this would have been an unusual step. The ownership of the site changes in the 1870s to the Tyne Glass Company. The last record of this company is in local directories of 1892. This probably indicates the last working year of the glassworks. The works were certainly disused in 1897. In the opening years of 20th century the glassworks are replaced by buildings and workshops related to Harton Staiths. The chimney and abutting workshops from the glassworks were retained and reused. The workshops have now been removed {4}. It would seem that Onesiphorus Dagnia (of the Ouseburn Glassworks, Newcastle) set up the first glasshouse at South Shields around 1707. In 1756 they mortgaged the glasshouse to John Cookson. Isaac Cookson had set up a glasshouse in South Shields for his son, John, in 1737. John Cookson entered into a partnership with a Thomas Jefferies to make crown glass there. On John's death in 1785, the works passed to his son Isaac and the Cooksons remained the leading glassmakers in the district until the middle of19th century {5}.

Flagg notes that no docks were shown in the area to the north of South Shields Market on a map of the area made in 1773, but by the time that Blackburne’s plan of the town was surveyed, sometime around 1789, a dock was shown there (Flagg 1979, 57). From at least 1794, the dock and associated yard were owned by Simon Temple. Work carried out over the succeeding decade involved both repair and construction, including two vessels for the East India Company. The last vessel produced by Temple was the 32 gun frigate Pandoura in 1806.
The yard and the dry dock were taken over in the same year by Thomas Forsyth and Co. In an advert recording the purchase in the paper, Forsyth noted that they carried on the ‘Business of repairing ships’ (Flagg 1979, 61). At some time after 1816, the yard was passed on to his sons, Thomas and Nicholas. Numerous advertisements for the sale of ships newly constructed at the yard and noting the repair of others are cited by Flagg over the early 1820s (1979, 62). Wood’s Plan of South Shields of 1827 shows ‘Mr Forsyth’s Dock’.
Nicholas Forsyth died in an accident in the yard in 1823 and the yard was subsequently run by Thomas Forsyth until his death in 1859. The yard was then administered by his executors for a time, under the title of Wilson and Crosthwaite, which was subsequently altered to Messrs. Wilson and Blain. In 1879, the yard launched the last wooden sailing ship built on the river, the barque Britomart. In the same year, the dock was lengthened and at some time not too long after this the company was purchased by the Newcastle businessman, James Nelson. From around 1885, Tyne Dock Engineering had taken over the use of the dock and in 1889, the business was turned into a joint stock company, Tyne Dock Engineering and Co.
In 1939, the yard was extended along the Quayside and over Thrift Street subsequent to a series of demolitions as part of the Riverside Development Scheme.
Map Evidence
First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1858, Sheet ???
One dock present on site, of a slightly asymmetric plan with standing for crane (?) projecting into the southern flank of the dock.
Second Edition Twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1899, Sheet 9
The dock has been considerably extended and a fairly substantial building added in the southern area of the yard.
Third Edition Twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey1912, Sheet 9
No obvious alteration to the form of the dock or of the yard.
Fourth Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey1924, Sheet ???
The dock would appear to have been amalgamated with the graving dock to the north (common railway lines run between the docks) and the yard extended to the south {2}.

No dock is shown on the site in Blackburne’s plan of the town made in 1789, but the plan does show a ‘Mr Broderick’s Building Yard’ in about the same location. Flagg (1979, 53) notes that a ‘Mr Craster’s Upper Dock’ is mentioned in an advertisement for the sale of salvage in 1805, showing that the dock had been constructed by this time.
Map Evidence
First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1858, Sheet ???
One dock present, described as Young’s Dock.
Second Edition Twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, 1899, Sheet 9
The graving dock has been considerably enlarged, and now runs as far as Long Row.
Third Edition Twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1912, Sheet 9
No significant alteration to the position as represented on the Second Edition Survey other than rail lines between the dock and a dock to the south (SMR No. 2339)
Fourth Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1924, Sheet??
No alteration. Not re-surveyed?? {2}.

Fairle's Dock. The depiction on the 1st edition OS mapping is unclear but the dock appears to have been oval in shape, with its long axis parallel to the river rather than at 90 degrees as seems to have been more common {1}. Flagg (79,45) mentions adverts in newspapers in South Shields in 1791 and 1792 for Fairles’ two quays, with room on the ‘High Quay’ for making a dry dock and also notes that Blackburne’s plan of the town of 1798 (Flagg 79, 46) shows just such a dock. A second dock was constructed on the quays in the early 1800s. By 1831, the docks were known as the Commercial Docks owned by Messrs Wetherby and Ihler. Early in the same decade, the Yard was purchased by the Stanhope and Tyne Railroad Co. and due to the failure of the company, the site remained largely unused except as a timber store for the next 120 years, during which time the docks were levelled and the site used for a saw mill. In 1954, construction of Brigham and Cowan’s new graving dock revealed a ‘double dock head’ almost certainly the remains of Fairles’ old graving dock as shown on Wood’s plan of 1827 (Flagg 79, 48).

Map Evidence

Wood, J Plan of South Shields
Three graving docks present, a double dock to north.

First Edition twenty Five Inches to one Mile Ordnance Survey, Sheet 9
Only one dock present, of very irregular form.

Second Edition Twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, Sheet 9
the dock has gone, replaced by a saw mill.

This site was subsequently part of Brigham and Cowan’s graving dock from 1954 {2}.

Drops on the Stanhope and Tyne Railway (HER 2290) by TE Harrison. The drops of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway were built in the early 19th century. An engraving of the opening of the drops (by WA Kidd held by South Shields Library) gives some indication of the extent of these works, which covered almost two thirds of the river frontage, later taken up by the Brigham and Cowan Yard in 1905. The opening of the railway on 10th September 1834 saw 100 coal wagons sent down the line for shipment from the drops. There were three drops, which differed in general construction to those previously built on the Tyne and Wear. They had a vibrating frame and counterbalance weight. It pivoted at the bottom instead of in the middle like those at Middlesbrough, and was longer to enable vessels to be loaded whilst in water varying from 13 to 16 feet. The Stanhope and Tyne Drops were described by Sir George Head in his "Home Tour" of 1835. He was impressed, describing the wagon upon the cradle and the dragging of the counterbalancing chain upwards and by the sounds produced during operations "the creaking and groaning of timber, the stress on the machinery, the grating of the brake, the rattling of the huge links, the clash of the hammer against iron bolts, and the thundering crash of the coal falling through the bottom of the wagon into the hold of the vessel". The drops stood on the outer wall of a dock, the foundation stone had been laid by Mr William Harrison on 12th June 1835 - the dock was never built. The drops were approached by a timber roadway supported by trussed framing which rested on stone piers. A description and diagrams of the drops appeared in the Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1838. The 2nd edition OS mapping shows a brewery (SMR 2444) on this site. So the staiths must have been out of use by 1895.

The first reference to the Low Dock is thought to be 1754 and its history has been followed through to the early 19th century when the site became the location of the drops of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway (SMR 2336). Despite the construction of the drops, Low Dock continued in use until the end of 19th century, when the Tyne Dock Engineering Company began work on the site in 1889. Brigham and Cowan's Yard and dock was opened on the same site in 1905 {1}. Low Dock or Barkers Dock, was probably the first graving dock in South Shields (Flagg 1979, 28). It was constructed at the latest by the 1760s, probably by the 1750s, by a Thomas Winship as the central feature of a shipbuilding yard. Winship died in 1768, and the dock was bought by the Brodericks in 1769-70. They continued to build and repair ships at the yard.

In 1807, the yard was tenanted by a Henry Wright, and by 1809, a Mr Harle also, in a partnership which ended in 1822 with the closure of the business. Over these years, the main work of the yard was repairing. The dock was once again let, and from 1825, tenanted by a George Kell. From the early 1830s, the Low Dock fell out of use when it was bought by the Stanhope and Tyne Railway Co. as the proposed site of coal and limestone staiths. No such structures ever materialised on the site, although the yard remained in the hands of the Stanhope and Tyne and succeeding railway companies until 1905.

From the early 1840s, the Low Dock Yard was tenanted by T & T Bell Barker, J and J Bushell and then W E Boutland and Co. Boutland and Co. left the yard around the middle of the 1890s. The Low Dock, and the whole surrounding area, was demolished preparatory to the construction of a new shipyard by Brigham and Cowan Ltd. In the 1900s. The yard was opened in 1905.

Map Evidence

First Edition twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1858, Sheet ??
One slightly asymmetric dock present in rectangular yard.

Second Edition Twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1899, Sheet 3
Dock present, probably not significantly altered from First Edition.

Third Edition Ordnance Survey, Sheet
Not accessed

In the 1900s, the yard was demolished for the Brigham and Cowan Yard {2}.

Three shipyards are shown at Sand End to the north of the Lawe at South Shields on the First Edition Ordnance Survey. The yards are divided by narrow landings. Internal features include slipways and small structures, the functions of which are not described on the Ordnance Survey. The slipways would tend to suggest that much of the work of the yards was repairing vessels. The location would be ideal for damaged vessels arriving at the Tyne.
By the time of the Second Edition Survey, the west yard had been bought by Rennoldson and converted to iron construction. The middle yard had fallen into disuse, but is annotated ‘Engineering Works (Disused)’ and the location of the slipways shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey, and now described as ‘old’, can still be seen. The eastern yard is in use as an oil storage depot. By the 1900s, the middle yard was once again in use as a shipyard. It was owned by Charles Rennoldson, producing smaller vessels such as minesweepers for the Royal Navy and icebreakers for the Imperial Russian Government. The yard closed in 1929, along with the neighbouring yard of J.P. Rennoldson (HER 2439).
Map Evidence
First Edition Ordnance Survey, Sheet ???
Three rectilinear yards lie along the northern edge of the Lawe on land projecting into the mouth of the Tyne. The yards are divided by narrow landings.
Second Edition Ordnance Survey, Sheet ???
Middle yard out of use and eastern yard now an oil storage depot.
Third Edition Ordnance Survey, Sheet ???
The middle yard once again in use as a shipyard
Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey, Sheet ???
Little apparent change from Third Edition. Not re-surveyed? {2}.

Herd Sand Beacon.

Railway or Wagonway. The southern end is the junction with the North Eastern Railway, Sunderland Branch (SMR 2289). This was part of the Biddick Branch of the Brandling Junction Railway which was opened in 1839 and closed in 1840. This record represents the southern section of the line which was shown as disused on the 1st edition OS mapping. The northern section was still in use as a railway (SMR 2395) related to Harton Colliery. The line was completely reopened as the North Eastern Railway Harton Branch in 1867, its northern end having been remodelled, see SMR 2550.