West Denton or Baker's Main Wagonway
West Denton or Baker's Main Wagonway
HER Number
4045
District
Newcastle
Site Name
West Denton or Baker's Main Wagonway
Place
West Denton
Map Sheet
NZ16NE
Class
Transport
Site Type: Broad
Tramway Transport Site
Site Type: Specific
Wagonway
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Hanoverian 1714 to 1837
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
A plan of the late 1750s (Turnbull 2009, 120) shows Denton divided into three parts. West Denton, including Bells Close, is marked as owned by John Baker. A ‘Winning Engine’ is shown close to the river. Baker’s Main Colliery was won soon after the map was prepared. Both Gibson (1788) and Casson (1801) show a pit a little way from the river served by a waggonway. Casson notes it as 25 fathoms deep.
Easting
419690
Northing
565080
Grid Reference
NZ419690565080
Sources
1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, 1864, 6 inch scale, Northumberland, 97; Alan Williams Archaeology, 2012, Waggonways North of the River Tyne: Tyne and Wear Enhancement Project; Turnbull, L. 2009 Coals from Newcastle: An Introduction to the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield, p 120; Gibson 1787: Plan of the Collieries of the Rivers Tyne and Wear; Casson 1801: Map of the Rivers Tyne and Wear