Willington Waggonway

Seven evaluation trenches were excavated in 2013 at Neptune Yard due to the proximity of Segedunum Roman Fort and its vicus. No Roman remains were found, but in one trench next to Benton Way a sandstone wall, 0.56m high and 0.63m wide, was recorded.

Further excavation around the wall unexpectedly revealed a number of substantial timbers arranged in parallel formation - sleepers of an in-situ waggonway track. In the end, two lines were discovered - a main way and a siding, extending over 33.3m on a north-west to south-east alignment. The waggonway was in an excellent state of preservation. The rails and sleepers of two lines survived with a revetment between them, and a cobbled track lay within the siding. It was decided that a representative sample of the track and associated features should be lifted, conserved and eventually displayed at The Stephenson Railway Museum at North Shields.

Between 4th and 13th September 2013 an 8m length of the two tracks, including rails, sleepers, metalling and timber revetment was dismantled by the archaeologists and moved to a storage facility at Tyne and Wear Archives & Museums. A number of timbers beyond the identified eight metre section were also retained as replacements for some of the less well-preserved timbers in the sample section, and a length of the main way to the north was also dismantled and stored at the same facility for The National Railway Museum at York.

Following the removal of a large proportion of the best-preserved waggonway timbers, further monitoring work took place between 17th September to 1st October during the initial phase of rendering the site suitable for development by excavating to compact clay levels, revealing more of a stone drain or ‘cundy’ feature on the north-east side of the main way and exposing a long leat, stone-walled and timber-capped, running underneath the south-western (former Carville) boundary wall and extending downslope into the wash pond area.

The remaining features of the waggonway complex were removed by machine during final groundworks on 8th October 2013, during which process it was observed that only part of the cobbled sleeper-bed forming the base of the wash pond and a small length of the foundations of the brick and stone drain running into the north (Benton Way) side of the site were left in situ. Further monitoring was carried out in April and May 2014 (completed May 21st) on the lower part of the site, however, between the Benton Way boundary and the first of the now-infilled dry docks, but produced no additional finds of significance.

Features recorded:

The sandstone wall was initially thought to be associated with the embankment of the Gosforth & Kenton Waggon Way of circa 1808, which is shown on the Ordnance Survey plan of the 1850s. The wall was later found to be a Carville Hall boundary wall.

The northern end of the wall sat upon a wide ditch or west side of a cutting. The ditch was concave in section with a flatish base. It could be traced for a length of some 12m. It may have been a wayleave ditch on the western flank of the main line, infilled when the siding was built. Or it may have been a drainage or water supply conduit.

Close to the south end of the wall a floor of re-used firebricks of early C20 date was found. The stamped bricks were made at Newburn Brickworks. This is odd because this is the site of Tyne Brick Works in the late C19.

For most of its length the Carville boundary wall sat on wooden foundations provided by the features of the pre-existing waggonway, notably a wooden-capped leet which was 17.5m long.

The well-preserved main way had a wooden track with extensive survival of sleepers and rails. All fixings from rail to rail and rail to sleeper were with wooden pegs in square or sub-circular peg holes. The rails ranged in length from 0.5m to 4.92m. They were generally 0.12m wide and 0.16m deep. The sleepers extended either side of the rails by between 0.07m and 0.47m. Some were squared, many were re-used ship timbers, others were lightly re-worked tree branches. The sleepers were spaced between 0.5m and 0.68m on the main way and between 0.55m and 1.08m on the byeway. Those in the wash pond averaged 0.75m. The sleepers were set into a bed of shale and yellow clay ballast. An additional bank of clay on the external edge of the eastern rail may have been a walkway or a means of deflecting water from the waggonway as there was never a ditch on that side.

At the north end of excavated area, the main way and its wash pool siding converged at a set of simple points.

The wash pool siding - parallel and associated with the west revetment wall are the substantial remains of a single-rail track laid in a dished cutting, 2.6m wide which dipped 0.7m in the centre and rose at either end. This was interpreted at an early stage as a wash pond. The track was the same gauge as the main way. Each rail was up to 3.4m long, 0.115m wide and 0.16m deep. The rails are securely pegged onto the sleepers. The sleepers are obscured by an overlying stone surface. Off-cuts of timber form chocks and wedges under the rails between the sleepers.

Immediately inside both rails of the waggonway track are double-rails forming the raised sides of an inner track three feet wide upon which was a walkway of irregular unbonded pitched stone between the inner rails. The upper rails forming the sides of the horse-way are pegged into the lower rails using oak pegs in square or sub-rectangular holes. The stone horse-way is comprised of deeply set, irregular stones, including sandstone blocks, thinner blocks set on edge and rounded cobbles. The re-used double rails provide support and framing for the cobbled surface. Removal of the horse track revealed the best-preserved oak sleepers, all at least roughly squared and reused ship timbers, set in a second layer of cobbling.

Between the horse-way/wash pond and the main way is a timber post and rail revetment. The remains of 21 wooden posts, 0.10m in diameter survive. At least two lines of posts can be detected either side of a parallel stone feature, probably an earlier revetment. Rails or planks have been placed on the inside the two rows of posts, and the gap infilled with clay. The planks are up to 4.6m long, up to 0.29 wide and 0.06m thick. At least four planks are probably reused ships timbers (holes bored through them).

The post and plank revetment adjacent to the bottom of the horse-way depression is formed by a thick plank parallel with the main planking and supported on the outside by squared posts. The gap between this and a second layer of planking is filled with clay. On the east side of the feature are large stones and earlier phases of timber revetment. This is interpreted as a sluice arrangement for draining water from the wash pond.

The disturbed southern section of the Carville boundary wall was built on an older underlying wall, unbonded and formed of two faces with a rubble core. Its rear east facing was set into a bank of yellow clay. The wall was between 0.50 and 0.74m wide. This was a west revetment wall to the wash pond dip-line.

Part of the Carville boundary wall sat over a 6.75m long re-used ships timber of oak which formed a covered channel. The downslope end of the channel was formed of six roughly-hewn planks, also ships timbers. The timber channel capping was supported by stone sleeper walls.

Under the main way and extending from the trough-like wooden sluice is a sandstone culvert. Beyond the Benton Way boundary wall it continued as a hand-made brick-lined feature with plank capping. The drain or cundy was filled with a soft orange substance. X-Ray Fluorescence confirmed it was high in iron content but did not indicate its origin.

On the north side of the main way is a series of pits. At least six pits were visible, arranged in a line. The pits were between 0.65m and 0.99m wide, between 0.68m and 3.68m long and between 0.23m and 0.64m deep. They appear to have been excavated by spade and/or lined with wood. The pits were filled with coal waste and silty soil containing fragments of wood.

Documentary evidence suggests that the main way served the coal pits to the north and staiths on the riverside. It was established towards the end of the 18th century in association with Bigges Main Pit, which was sunk in 1785. The connecting siding, wash pond loop, water management system and pits were added at some point later. Water was fed into the wash pond along the leet. Excess water from the wash pond was removed through the stone and brick culvert. The pits were possibly used for water storage.

The wash pond had probably gone out of use by 1810-11. By around 1812 the line of the waggonway had been taken over by the Kenton & Coxlodge railway line, which used iron rails. The timber waggonway was covered with coal waste. The Kenton & Coxlodge line went out of use by the 1890s. The Carville boundary wall was built partly over the south-west side of the waggonway. The Tyne Brick Works were built. By the early 20th century the brickworks had been demolished. By the late 1940s a large hangar-lik building associated with Neptune Shipyard was built over the waggonway. Its shallow foundations destroyed the Kenton & Coxlodge Railway but not the underlying Willington Waggonway.

The Willington Waggonway has a main line of 4ft 8" gauge, showing that the origins of the standard gauge lie early in the 18th century.