Wallsend Chemical Works. OS 1st edn mapping shows a possible condensing flue and chimney, and a wagonway to the edge of the river. In 1847 John Allen built a chemical factory on land acquired from Dame Allan's Charity. The works went into production in 1848. Alkali and bleaching powder were manufactured. The tall chimney was a landmark for miles around. The prosperity of the works was reached in 1875, then declined until production had almost ceased in 1882. In 1883 a group of Newcastle businessmen took over the works under the name Wallsend Chemical Company. They also made scented soap. In 1890-1 the company amalgamated with the United Alkali Company. A few years later Swan Hunter built an extension to their shipyard over the site.

Reservoir. By 1895 the site was occupied by Carville Station (SMR 2204).

Ropery shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map.

Wallsend Station on the NER Tynemouth Branch (SMR 1186).

North Shields Station on the Blyth & Tyne Railway (SMR 1049). Replaced the nearby North Shields Terminus (SMR 2050) in 1864. It was itself superseded in 1865 by the nearby Tynemouth Station (SMR 1200).

Mount Pleasant Engine Manufactory shown on First Edition Ordnance Survey Plan, 1856. Not on Wood 1826. Gone by 1898 replaced by housing.

Wagonway from Whitehill Point Whiting and Salt Manufactory (SMR 2078) to Backworth Wagonway (SMR 1113).

A dock was constructed in the 1750s to the south of the Bull Ring by the landowner Edward Collingwood. John Fryer’s Map of the Lower Tyne, of 1772/3 describes it as ‘Mr Hall’s Dock’ (presumably the tenant). Wood’s map of North Shields of 1827 shows the same dock, with ‘Mr Laing’ written next to it, and Calver’s map of the Tyne (1838/40) describes the dock as ‘Smith’s Dock’. The dock had in fact been utilised by T&W Smith from 1815 for an uncertain period. A map of 1826 has the name 'Mr Laing' on this site. The dock was subsumed within Edwards and Sons yard in 1883 and in 1893, a discrete yard to the south of the dock was purchased and formed into Edwards Bros., ship and boat builders. In 1899, the yard became part of the amalgamated Smith’s Dock Co. Ltd. From the outset, the dock presumably lay within a small shipyard.

Map Evidence
Fryer’s Map of the Lower Tyne 1772
Graving Dock shown

J Wood Plan of the Towns of North Shields and Tynemouth: 1827
Graving dock shown, annotated as Laing’s Dock.

First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1865 Northumberland 89
Lies in an open area to the north of Ramsey’s Foundry

Second Edition Six inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, 1899 Northumberland 89
The dock has been removed by the construction of later graving docks {2}.

Whitehill Point Iron Works. On 1st edn OS mapping the site includes a smithy.

Clark's Walls End Drop, Hotspur Spout and Northumberland Spout. Coal drops at the southern end of Backworth Wagonway (HER 1113). Whitehill Point was the shipping point for the eighteenth century wagonways from the scattered pits of Flatworth, Shiremoor and Murton. Royalties belonged to the Duke of Northumberland and the earliest staith was the Northumberland Spout which served these pits. Originally this would have had a large covered staith house with under-cover storage for coal when the tide was wrong for loading. The staith house is visible on the 25" Ordnance Survey of 1858. The other two loading points, Clarks Walls End Drop (probably named after a partner in Earsdon Coal Company, whose Duke and Duchess Pit used this drop) and Hotspur Spout (named after Harry Hotspur who was an ancestor of the Duke of Northumberland, responsible for putting Henry IV on the throne. He was killed at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403) belonged to Murton Colliery. They later became the Backworth Staiths. Between 1884 and 1898 the old staiths were cleared away and new ones built by the Tyne commissioners (HER 2142).