Elswick, Lead Pipe Mill

This building was constructed after 1859, probably in 1874, on the site of a number of earlier buildings. It was built as a pipe mill and probably contained the 6 hydraulic presses noted in a sale catalogue of 1884. The upper floor was rebuilt and re-roofed prior to 1980 to be used as offices. The two northern corners of the original building survive at upper floor level. The southern face of the building was rendered between 1969 and 1980. Lead pipe was originally produced by soldering or welding sheet lead which had been rolled into a cylinder. Later it was produced by drawing and extruding, in a similar way to the manufacture of wire. The pipe mill built in c.1874 would almost certainly have been producing pipe by drawing and extrusion. An earlier pipe mill, shown to the west of the main white lead stacks area on a plan of c.1850 is likely to have been producing pipe by welding.