Brick bridge carrying what is now Keats Lane over the line of a former railway. Railway cutting survives but is very overgrown. Bridge is built of brick and appears to be 20th century in date. There are two tunnels.

No shipyards are shown in the area on the First Edition Survey. The Second Edition Survey does show a yard, but it is possible that at this time it was in the possession of John Priestman, who is known to have utilised the site immediately to the east. Although the area is described as ‘Castletown Yard Shipbuilding’ on the survey, there is no evidence to suggest that this was anything other than a nominal description.

In 1912, the yard was taken over by Swan Hunter to cope with excess workloads at their Tyne yards on colliers, coasters and steamers. The Third Edition Survey shows the yard with four building berths, installed soon after the company opened, with flanking rail lines for travelling cranes.

During WW1, the yard produced two colliers and five coasters. The yard closed briefly in 1921 but was re-opened in 1923 to produce Great Lakes Steamers. The Depression ended Swan Hunter’s connection with the yard. They launched their last ship there in 1931. In 1933, the yard was purchased by National Shipbuilders Security Ltd. and partly dismantled. In 1942, due to the great loss of merchant vessels in the Atlantic convoys, the yard was re-activated by the Shipbuilding Corporation Ltd to build ships on government account, and in this case under the control of JL Thompson’s. Three berths were rebuilt and all necessary equipment brought in from the North Sands Yard. Five ships were launched before the end of the war. The yard remained open and in production until 1947, producing a further five vessels. It was demolished in 1952.

Map Evidence

First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1855, Sheet XIV
No shipyards in the area

Second Edition Ordnance Survey 1898, Sheet VIII.SW
Area annotated as ‘Castletown Yard’, but no evidence for structures, berths etc. to indicate that the yard was in production.

Third Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1921, Sheet VIII.SW
Building berths present with flanking rail lines for travelling cranes. Other than these, only few and scattered structures shown {1}.

In 1869, George Short transferred his timber ship building business from Mowbray Quay in Hylton to Pallion. The running of the business was transferred to his four sons and became known as Short Brothers in 1871, the same year that iron ship construction was adopted. In 1899, the neighbouring, North of England Shipbuilding Co. was taken over and the following year the firm was incorporated as a limited company, Short Brothers Ltd. At this time, the shipyard employed 1500 workers.

The yard had gained a reputation for quality ships, not least due to the designing abilities of John Short, one of George’s sons, and thrived on multiple orders placed by relatively few customers, many of them local, some of whom had long associations with the yard. Notable amongst these were James Westoll of Sunderland, who had some 40 cargo ships built at the yard, John Barwick of Sunderland (21 vessels), Taylor & Sanderson of Sunderland (24 vessels), James Knott of North Shields (37 Cargo liners between 1883 and 1918), and Common Brothers of Newcastle (22 tramps between 1895 and 1941). Although orders increased during World War One, when 17 ships were built to private order and 14 barges for the admiralty, the inter-war period was one of decline. Indeed, the business closed periodically due to lack of orders, as between June 1930 and early 1933, and again between the end of 1938 and early 1939. Government orders during the Second World War rejuvenated the business - there were three berths and a workforce of around 900 at the end of 1945 - and the order book remained full throughout the immediate post-war years into the 1950s. Several tankers were constructed in this period when the trend was towards larger vessels.

The three years between 1961 and 1963 were the last years of production at the yard, with the last ship completed being the Carlton in January 1964. Closure was made inevitable by the unwillingness, or inability, of the Short family to extend the berths in order to accommodate the increasing size of cargo vessels demanded by the world market. The yard closed with the loss of 300 jobs in January 1964 and was subsequently demolished, but the fitting-out quay was purchased by Bartram & Sons in the same year and remained in use until the 1980s.

Map Evidence

First Edition Twenty Five Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1855, Sheet VIII.9
The area is taken up by a number of timber shipbuilding yards, described under SMR No. 2781.

Second Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, Sheet VIII.SW
The shipbuilding area described under SMR No. 2781, has now contracted both in area, and in number of concerns; there are only two yards present, the site of the North of England Shipbuilding Co. to the west and Short’s Yard (annotated as the ‘Pallion Yard’) to the east. Both yards contain ranges of buildings against their southern boundaries and projecting to the riverside. The functions of the buildings are not described.

Third Edition Six inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1921, Sheet VIII.SW
The western yard described above has fallen into disuse, but the Pallion Yard has been extended southwards from the river. Rail lines for travelling cranes now run around the yard and concentrate on the building berths to the north-west. The layout of structures in the yard has completely altered from that shown on the Second Edition survey {1}.

Part of a timber shipbuilding yard (SMR No. 2886) was taken over by the partnership of Iliff and Mounsey in 1870. They proceeded to construct vessels in iron. Iliff retired in 1873 and the partnership became Mounsey and Foster. Within a few years of Mounsey’s retirement in 1880, Robert Foster had formed a limited liability company (Sunderland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.). This was the first such business in the area, and it became known as the ‘Limited Yard’.

Output of over 16,000 tons in 1900 made the yard the ninth most productive on the Wear. The record over WW1 was also impressive, with production of 11 ships (totalling nearly 43,000 tons) and 19 small naval craft. Subsequent to WW1, orders began to dwindle for the yard, and the final launch was in 1926. The yard closed and was demolished before the 1930s {1}.

George Bartram, who had begun shipbuilding at Hylton in 1838 (originally in partnership with a John Lister and then with his son, Robert Appleby) eventually transferred his company to a yard at the South Docks in 1871. Soon after this move, George Bartram retired, and a new partnership was formed between his son, Robert, and a George Haswell. The new partnership, Bartram, Haswell & Co. launched their first ship, Ardmore, in June 1872. Although still building sailing and timber vessels, particularly barques and full-rigged ships, the yard concentrated on iron construction, and became builders of high-class cargo vessels and tankers.
George Haswell retired in 1890 and Robert Bartram’s sons, George and William, joined the company as partners (the yard becoming Bartram and Sons. It was only formed into a limited company in 1922). Robert Bartram died in 1925 aged 90, outliving both his sons. The management of the yard then passed to his grandsons, George H. Bartrum and Robert A. Bartram, the latter remaining in charge of the yard until 1968.
At the turn of the twentieth century the yard had an annual output of 18,530 tons. During WW1, twelve ships, totalling 41,658 tons were constructed, mostly to private order. After the boom of the war years, the yard continued building steam tramps, but the Depression saw work rapidly dry up. Only one ship was built between 1930 and 1936, the Eskdene, a speculative venture which included all the latest technical advances such as a superheated steam engine. She was launched in 1934.
Orders began to trickle in from 1935, and 11 tramps were completed between 1936 and the outbreak of WW2. The war saw the yard produce 24 ships, the most productive year being 1943 when five tramps were launched alongside conversion work on another four. The increase in demand for ships required the construction of a new berth and new platers’ and welders’ sheds were installed, along with new 15-ton electric jib cranes.
Demand for shipping continued after WW2, as ship owners ordered replacements for vessels lost during the fighting. In 1952, the area of the yard was increased by one fifth, including the extension of one berth by 30 feet and the introduction of rail cranes that could accommodate larger ships. Bartram’s introduced new techniques to the yard, including x-ray examination of welding, optical lofting procedures, shot blasting of all steel, and the use of paint primer. A total of 85 ships was built between 1946 and 1967, an average of four per year.
Restricted space alongside the yard, and the narrow entrance to the outfitting berth, meant that the larger bulk carriers launched by the yard had to be towed to the Tyne to be engined and fitted out. In 1964, the Short Brothers yard at Pallion was closed and Bartram’s purchased their fitting out quay. From that time, all post-launch fitting out was carried out at the Pallion Quay.
In 1965, Bartram and Sons was acquired by Pickersgill Ltd of Southwick (R A Bartram remained at the yard until retirement in 1971). Under Pickersgill’s, Bartram’s built 54 SD14 cargo ships until the yard was finally closed in 1978, when the workforce was moved to the Southwick Yard to join the Austin & Pickersgill Yard. Bartram’s Yard was subsequently demolished, and the empty site used for container storage by the Port of Sunderland Authority.
Map Evidence
First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1855, Sheet XIV
(See SMR No. 2886)
Second Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1898, Sheet VIII.SE
By this time, Bartram’s have taken over a portion of the timber ship building yard which had occupied an area of shore adjacent to the South Entrance of South Docks (SMR No. 2886) the yard, which now runs up to Sunderland Engine Works, contains a range of buildings, the functions of which are not provided on the survey.
Third Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1921, Sheet VIII.SE
The yard is described as the South Dock Shipbuilding Yard. There are substantial buildings on the southern edge of the yard against the ‘Sea Lock’ from South Dock {1}.

The Doxford family were in business as timber merchants in the 1830s and began shipbuilding at Coxgreen in the 1840s. In 1857, they moved to a bigger yard at Pallion to the west of their later yard. This latter site (the ‘West Yard’) was purchased by Doxford in 1869 and five shipbuilding berths were constructed. In 1872, Doxford received his first order from the Admiralty, for the construction of three composite wood/iron gunboats, followed by an order for the corvette HMS Magician in 1875. In general, work in the yard concentrated on steam tramps but with production of fast sailing clippers and liners also carried out. A marine engine and boiler works was added to the yard in 1878,
William Doxford died in 1882 and the business was then run in partnership by his four sons, William Theodore, Alfred, Robert and Charles. The yard was incorporated as a limited liability company in 1891. Towards the end of the century , novel designs for merchant vessels were tested; Doxford’s produced one example of a ‘whaleback’ steamer with very low freeboard. A much more successful type of vessel developed by Doxford’s was the ‘turret’ steamer. Because of the innovative nature of the turret, and the natural wariness of shipping lines to invest in untried designs, a separate company was formed (The Turret Steamship Co. Ltd.) to own and trade with the first of the type constructed (the Turret) which was launched in 1892. Turrets eventually proved very successful and fifteen customers bought multiples of the design.
Fire destroyed Doxford’s engine works in 1901. The works was replaced almost immediately by a larger and more modern plant with a capacity for producing 30 marine engines per year. In 1902, the shipbuilding berths in the West Yard were scrapped and replaced by three larger berths (with the capacity for construction of vessels of over 12,000 dwt. each) in a new East Yard, which also contained high gantry cranes and a new fitting out quay equipped with a 100 ton radial crane. Both East and West Yards came into full production in 1903/4. The last turret vessel completed by Doxford (number 176 from the yard) was the Orangemoor, launched in 1911. Between 1892 and 1911, the turret ships had provided strong financial stability for Doxford’s and full order books. In 1906, the combined East and West Yards had produced 106,000 tons and over 1905-1907 had the highest production of any shipyard in the world. Innovation and development continued: The Cairnross, for instance, was the first turbine powered cargo ship in the world, launched in 1913. During WW1, 21 torpedo boat destroyers were produced
W T Doxford died in 1916, having been in charge of the yard for 34 years. In 1919 a majority holding in Doxford’s was taken up by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. and the Sperling Group. The Doxford family interest was sold out, although the name was retained for both shipyard and engine works. The latter works had begun development of one cylinder oil engines in 1909
The Sperling Group, part owners of Doxfords, collapsed in 1924, leading to the mothballing of the yard later that year. It was not opened again until 1927. After a brief productive period, the yard was again mothballed in 1931. Over the next four years, an innovative type of tramp vessel was developed by the design departments of both engine and shipyard works; this was the Doxford Economy Tramp. The design was of part welded and part rivetted construction, powered by a three-cylinder two-stroke, single-acting Doxford opposed piston oil engine of 1800 bhp. The first of the new design was the Sutherland, launched in 1934.
The Doxford Pallion yards were constantly upgraded during WW2. A new area was included in the yard in 1946, when John Dickinson and Sons Palmer’s Hill Engine Works on the opposite bank of the river next to Monkwearmouth Bridge was bought by Doxfords. With the resumption of commercial work after WW2, the Economy Tramp again became a popular type. Between 1946 and 1966, 123 ships of all types were built by Doxfords.
The company was split into two subsidiaries in 1956; William Doxford and Sons (Shipbuilders) Ltd. and William Doxford and Sons (Engineers) Ltd. Then , in 1961, the parent company joined the Laing and Thompson Yards as Doxford & Sunderland Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. The yards were fully merged as one group in 1966.
The Doxford and Sunderland Group was taken over by Court Line in 1972, soon after which the overall company name was changed to Sunderland Shipbuilders Ltd. By 1972, plans were already well advanced to demolish the old East Yard and replace it with a Shipbuilding Hall, big enough to hold two ships of 30,000 tons dwt. under construction at the same time. Work on the new yard commenced in October 1973. The dimensions of the hall were 181m long by 50m wide and 32m high. The first vessel constructed in the new hall was the Cedarbank, floated out into the river in April 1976.
During the upgrading of the yard, the Court Line had collapsed with massive debts, and Sunderland Shipbuilders Ltd. was taken over by the Government in 1975, who formed British Shipbuilders Ltd. By 1980, the Engine Works component of the old Doxford yards produced the last own-built engine type, after which, the works only constructed engines brought in from other marine engineering companies.
With the growth of oil prospection in the North Sea, the Pallion Yard produced two oil well maintenance vessels, completed in 1986, and in the same year merged with Austin and Pickersgill Ltd to form North Eastern Shipbuilders Ltd. (NESL). Orders were not forthcoming, and the last vessels produced by the yard, fifteen Danish Ferries, were constructed between 1986 and 1988. The yard was closed in 1988 {1}.

George Howe Shipyard shown on John Rennie's 1826 map. Taken over by John Priestman in 1880.
John Priestman became an apprentice to the Blumer shipyard on the Wear at the age of 14. Later, he became Chief Draughtsman at the Pickersgill Yard and designed their first iron steamer.
Priestman left Pickersgill’s to set up his own shipyard at Southwick in 1880, the first ship from which, of timber construction, was launched in the same year. Subsequently, the yard concentrated on iron production, but after the first 10 ships had been launched, a depression in international trade meant that no more ships were launched from the yard for nearly five years. Gemini, launched in 1888, was the first of a succession of steel ships from the yard: Between 1888 and the outbreak of WW1, 120 steel ships were completed in the yard. During WW1, 15 ships were built totalling 67,255 tons. After an initial post-war building boom, a slump in 1920/21 affected orders, with one Norwegian owner, H.J. Hanson, having to sell one of his ships back to the yard. Despite the slump, the yard still built 12 tramps ‘on speculation’ with the profits made from investment in South African gold mines.
Another 12 tramps were built between 1920 and 1930, but the sales of the last two of these in 1930 had to be used to pay off the workforce as these were the yard’s last orders. Another Norwegian owner failed to make the payments for another ship, which was put to auction, but later withdrawn with a top bid of only £20,000. She was finally launched in 1933. The yard closed in 1933 and the site was taken over by William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd (SMR No. 2771) during WW2 as their West Yard.
Map Evidence
First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1855, Sheet XIV.
The area on the Southwick shore of the River Wear which would be taken up by the Priestman Yard in the 1880s is occupied by intertidal mudflat and marsh.
Second Edition Ordnance Survey 1898, Sheet VIII SW
Priestman’s ‘Castletown Yard’ had now been established on the Southwick shore of the Wear over the area of mudflat and marsh shown on the First Edition survey. The extent of the yard is not clear; it is possible that it extended only as far as a boundary to the west of a range of buildings shown on the survey, or that it included this range of buildings. Whichever is the case, sawpits lie to the north-east of the buildings, suggesting that the area was at least involved with shipbuilding or repairing. An irregular inlet runs into the western edge of the yard next to a landing stage.
Third Edition Ordnance Survey 1921, Sheet VIII SW
The western area of the yard has now passed into the hands of Swan, Hunter (SMR No. ????). And the eastern range of buildings noted on the Second Edition Ordnance Survey is now certainly within the Priestman yard. There is little indication of the layout of the yard although the sawpits shown on the Second Edition survey remain {1}.

Farm shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map. The two surviving houses are of 19th century date. The granaries, byres and stables are of early 20th century date and are in the process of being converted into holiday lets.

Shown on Oliver's 1844 map {2}.

Shown on Oliver's 1844 map {2}.