In general the wall appears sound with few areas of concern. There are however, numerous areas of minor bulging and stepping out of stone courses, particularly in the lower wall. This is probably due to the effect of past construction and demolition of buildings on and behind the wall and tidal action. At several locations along the wall, timber pile heads and bridging structures were visible at the base of the wall. These are at risk of rotting which would eventually effect the stability of the wall. There are vertical cracks in various parts of the wall and widening of stonework joints. Along most of the wall the original mortar joints have been washed out. The wall is covered with green algae. Vegetation is growing out of open joints in the wall {1}. An older section of river wall with docking area, built of fine dressed ashlar blocks, still standing to 1.5m high, with an integral mooring ring was recorded behind the walls which now front onto the burn, adjacent to the City Farm site in January 2004 during the installation of a new footbridge. The Ouseburn gets flooded by the Tyne, at which time it is navigable by small boats, but it was not navigable north of the Lead Works {pers comm Mike Greatbatch, Ouseburn Heritage Officer}.

A brick sewer survives in the middle of the site. It measures 1200mm deep and 875mm wide. The sewer probably dates to the same time as the cattle sanitorium, late C19. The cattle sanitorium site comprises of a number of separate buildings. The northernmost structure is a late C19 two storey warehouse with pitched slate roof. Originally L-shaped in plan. The external walls consist of a series of uniform brickwork piers connected by shallow brick arches. The southernmost building is a 2 storey warehouse, also late C19, with single storey central area, U-shaped in plan. Part of the Victoria Tunnel was demolished when this building was built. It is built up against Glass House Bridge and against the Ouse Street retaining wall. Most of the original pitched roof was destroyed by fire. The external walls consist of a series of brickwork piers with brick infill panels with arches above window and door openings. There is also a large single storey warehouse with masonry support walls on the north west side of the site and a small free-standing brick clad warehouse on the south east side. In recent years the buildings in Lower Steenberg's Yard were occupied by Maynards Toffee Factory. A tall brick chimney survives. A retaining wall forms part of the present western boundary of the site. The wall was introduced to transform a sloping site adjacent to the Ouseburn into a relatively flat site suitable for commercial use. The wall was constructed in two phases - the earliest being a stone retaining wall dating to C18. The remains of a stone cottage marks the wall's original limit. The second stage comprised of two late C19 concrete walls, part of the infrastructure for the cattle sanitorium development. The original stone wall is 4.8m high and 1.3-1.5m thick. Part of the wall has a brickwork skin with pier and arch thickenings. Wrought iron girders are built into the wall, once supporting a concrete roof. One length of wall is supported by concrete buttresses. The sandstone wall is in good condition, although the demolition of a building against it has caused damage, represented by bulging and cracking {1}.The buildings are in poor condition and a significant amount of remedial work would be required for their restoration. The retaining walls are in good condition, although cracking was evident in the north end. The cattle sanatorium building was archaeology recorded in 2005 prior to demolition for safety reasons. It is due to be rebuilt.