A reinforced concrete-framed building with brick infill panels (Plates 42 and 43), projecting from retaining wall (26) on the east side of the valley and straddling a rail line. This first appears on the 3rd edition OS revision of 1913-14, and again on the 4th edition revision of 1940. The construction of the drop presumably post-dates Priestman Collieries’ take-over of Blaydon Burn Colliery in c.1900. The building is shown either under construction or in the process of demolition in an undated photograph [Figure 13]. Coal from the Bessie Drift was carried on an elevated platform across the valley to the ‘drops’ and then transferred into waggons below. This site is described in the HER as ‘staiths’.
The truncated concrete beams and framework are clearly visible in the retaining wall on the west side of the valley with a flight of stairs to the south (26), running up to the level of the deck. The remains of the drops comprise four large square apertures, or chutes, each measuring approximately 1.5m, with a re-enforced concrete floor spanning above and below (Figure 15). The concrete structure sits upon two concrete beams inserted into the earlier retaining wall (26). The area around these inserts is surrounded by brickwork. The steps to the south (see 26) were probably also inserted at this time to provide access to the platform above.

Clay was used for the manufacture of bricks at Cowen's two brickworks (SMR 1646 and 3434). No coal or clay is now extracted from the valley, but remnants exist of examples of loading staithes and pillars which supported aerial ropeways {1}.

Remains of a partially elevated railway which formerly comprised two lines running south-west from Cowen's coal screens. The structure first appears on the second edition OS (1896) but does not appear on third edition (1914) when the main line was probably diverted to the lower railhead. The area may have served as a road depot. The visible remains comprise a retaining wall with various phases of build, the earliest was sandstone rubble with some roughly squared and coursed sandstone blocks topped by curved coping stones. The south western end survives to its full height of just under 2.5m. The stonework continues north-east but is replaced in places by modern brick.

Fireclay had been worked at Blaydon Burn in the 1760s and by 1798 John Forster was paying 6/3d rental for clay working here - presumably for the manufacture of refractory brick (NRO ZCO IV. 42). By 1829 the site was referred to as a Firebrick Manufactory, run by Forster & Co. Shortly afterwards they were taken over by Joseph Cowen and his brother. Local clay was used for the manufacture of bricks in Cowen's two brickworks. The upper brickworks (High Yard or High Works) closed in 1919 although joiners and pattern maker's workshops remained operational until the 1950s. Joseph Cowen took over the Blaydon Burn Pit and Works in 1819. The works comprised two sets of firebrick works and retort making works. The upper works were situated about two miles south of the lower works on higher ground. The upper works were connected by a private railway. Workers cottages were provided at both sites {2}. The brickworks were established about the year 1730. 70 years before that, fireclay was worked at Blaydon Burn and manufactured into bricks at Paradise on the north side of the Tyne {3}. An engraving of 1856 (shown in Atkinson 1980) shows several "Newcastle Kilns" for making bricks and tiles. In the centre of the site are the moulding and drying sheds. Heat under the floor dried out the shaped bricks before firing. Some buildings survive from the upper works. Brick and Tilemaking Site
Joseph Cowen was introduced to the brickmaking business in the early 1820s and by 1934 J Cowen and Company was making bricks at the High Yard, Blaydon Burn, where there were seven Newcastle kilns. Fireclay retort works 1858-1914
(Source: Davison, P J, 1986. Brickworks of the North East, 133, site 30, 145)

Shown on Tithe map of 1838 [ASC Tithe Winlaton]. It is possible that the quarry was used for building stone for mills and associated structures. Today the quarry remains obscured by trees and dense undergrowth.

Part of Blaydon Burn Colliery (HER 3560), which opened in the 1850s and closed in 1956. The entrance to this old level is still visible and there are colliery buildings along the public footpath.

Associated with Greenwell Mill, the pond was formed by damming the Blaydon Burn. First shown on plan dated 1802 (NRO 309/N/Box 3 Bundle 35), and infilled between 1858 (OS1) and 1898 (OS2). There are no visible remains.

Marked on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map. Probable that it was being worked for building stone and related to the development of industrial premises in this part of the Burn in the first half of the nineteenth century. There are surviving traces of terracing on the valley side, and some probable quarry waste.

A survey of the Lordship of Winlaton made in 1682, when it was divided between three proprietors, is said to show six water mills along the burn from Brockwell Wood to the River Tyne, three of them close together where the brickworks are now. One of these could probably be on the site of the existing building. The tithe map of Winlaton, 1838, shows five corn mills, but not the one to the west of the existing one. Five mills are still shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map c.1855, but on the second edition 1898, only one, Path Head Mill is shown as a corn mill. Two have gone and two are no longer named as mills. The existing building is one of the latter. This former water corn mill is the last survivor of the former five or six, representing what must have been from at least the early C17, a busy corn milling area. No documentary evidence is known of at present from which the existing building could be dated. The earliest references found are of the early C19. It is a good example of a long tradition of small modest industrial buildings whose appearance changed little during the 18th century and early C19. Three advertisements appeared in the Newcastle papers during the second half of the 18th century for the letting of water corn mills on the Blaydon Burn. Two of these stated that the mills were newly or lately built, suggesting either re-building or an extension of an older mill. During the first half of the 19th century until circa 1858, the mill was worked by Belt & Co. (Belt & Patterson in the 1820s and later Belt & Whitfield). Belt & Whitfield are given as "Grocers, drapers and corn millers" in Whellan's Durham of 1856. A plan of 1823 shows the mill with its dam and leat and named "Belt & Co. Mill". The mill was held from Peregrine Towneley in the 1820s and land tax of some 10s was paid. The last directory entry for Belt & Whitfield is that of 1858, followed by a last entry for Whitfield alone, as "miller" in c.1864. From 1868 Ewart is given as "grocer in Winlaton and miller at Blaydon Burn". He may have been the successor to Belt & Whitfield. 1886 is the last entry for him as miller, although 1890 is the last entry as grocer under Mrs. Mary Ewart. Bourne in his History of Ryton, 1896 says: "On the south of the brickworks stands Messrs. Belt and Whitfield's disused corn mill. The water wheel still rests on the east side of the building" {1}.

Marked on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map.