Lambton Staiths are marked on the OS 1st edition mapping as "site of", suggesting that they were out of use before 1858.

Coke Ovens and a Coal Depot, adjacent to railway sidings, (SMR 2725).

Railway Sidings from the North Eastern Railway Sunderland Branch, (SMR 2289). These served Coke Ovens (SMR 2726), Timber Yard (SMR 2729) and Firebrick works (SMR 2730).

Monkwearmouth Gas Works are not shown on the 2nd edition OS mapping so possibly closed down by 1895.

In 1847, Luke Crown and his son, John, acquired a yard on the Monkwearmouth shore of the Wear previously owned by a John Candish. The company went through many name changes, from the J Crown Slipway, to the Strand Slipway Company, then John Crown, and to John Crown and Sons in 1901, before becoming a limited liability company in 1903 as John Crown and Sons Ltd.
The yard focused on the building and repair of colliers and coasters. Orders for new vessels dried up at the beginning of the Depression in the 1930s and, after closing for a period, the yard struggled by with occasional work until being forced to close again in 1938. After an increase in work during WW II, when the yard was developed to construct ships up to 300 feet in length, Crown’s was taken over in 1946 by the adjacent yard of J L. Thompson and Sons Ltd., although it continued to operate as a largely separate concern until 1958 (see SMR No. 2722).
In 1954, the yard’s facilities were improved to build tramps up to 12000 tons deadweight, and in 1960, a giant new berth was installed at right angles to the existing slipways. Prefabricated sheds were also built to allow tanker and bulk carrier construction of vessels up to 1000,000 tons deadweight.
Map Evidence
J Wood 1826, Plan of the Town of Sunderland
No attempt is made to represent a discrete yard in the area, although where Crown’s Yard would lie (John Crown and his son bought an already existing yard in 1847) is within the southern part of a zone annotated as ‘Ship Building Ground’.
First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1855, Sheet XIV.
A discrete yard is shown to the east of Strand Street and to the north of Monkwearmouth Gas Works, forming a constricted triangular block of land with a slipway projecting into the river at the southern angle of the yard. Buildings lie along the western edge of the yard on Strand Street.
Second Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, Sheet VIII SW and SE.
Little alteration to the yard is apparent, although the riverside would appear to have been rationalised, possibly walled.
Third Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, Sheet VIII SW and SE.
No apparent alteration to the yard: Survey not revised.
Tyne & Wear Archives Service hold a register of members, share ledger 1903-46, private ledger/ journals/ statements of account. Ship contracts, dimension book, tonnages, plans, drawing office offsets books, photographs.
Tyne & Wear Museums Service hold ship plans (nos. 18-229) 1905-49 {3}.

A Shipbuilding Yard, with Saw Mill, between Millum Terrace and Potato Garth {1}. A yard was established on the North Sands by Robert Thompson, already an experienced shipbuilder, with his three sons in 1846 (His eldest son, also Robert, set up another shipbuilding concern on the Wear at Southwick at around the same time). Robert senior died in 1860 and the business was passed on to his son, Joseph Lowes Thompson. The name of the shipyard was changed to J L Thompson in 1871, soon after which the yard’s first iron ship, the Celsus, was launched.
J L Thompson retired in 1875 and the business was run by his three sons (including another JL Thompson). In 1882, the yard achieved the highest output of any on the Wear, and started to expand across the North Sands area, taking over both William Pile’s and Peter Austin’s yards, along with a number of other smaller yards. This expansion included the development of Manor Quay, completed in 1884 (SMR No. 2733), which lay up river, and provided space for the fitting out and repair of vessels and the extension of existing building berths at the North Sands site, allowing the construction of bigger vessels. By 1884, 50% of the production of the North Sands Yard was steel, and by 1888, 100%.
In 1894, Thompson’s was formed into a limited liability company (Joseph L Thompson and Sons Ltd.). Many of the ships produced, mainly tramp steamers and liners, were multiple orders to shipping lines, and by the 1900s, the yard was building almost exclusively for the trans-Atlantic market. Over the last decade of the nineteenth century, the yard had been the lead yard on the Wear in terms of tonnage launched. Although it lost this pre-eminence to Laing’s and then Doxford’s over the 1900s, in 1907, the yard still launched 12 ships, a total of 48,178 tons, and a record for the company until WW1. The yard was busy during WW1 and immediately afterwards, but a downturn in trade in the early 1920s saw very little construction work until later in that decade, and then complete stagnation again over the Depression years to 1935, when a new design by Thompson’s, the Economy Steam Tramp, prepared by the yard’s retained draughting office staff, began to be produced. The first of these was the Embassage. Seventeen of the type were launched by the yard before the outbreak of WW2.
During WW2, the yard produced 40 vessels (a total of 277,697 tons), a number of which were the ‘Economy’ tramps, constructed before the yard converted to production of ‘Empire’ tramps, most of which were also based on a pre-existing Thompson design. Thompson’s were heavily involved over WW2 in liaison with American and Canadian shipyards, resulting in the development of the ‘Ocean’, ‘Fort’ and ‘Liberty’ ships. The North Sands Yard was badly damaged by German bombing in 1943 although production continued largely unabated.
In 1954, Thompson’s became a subsidiary of Sunderland Shipbuilding, Dry Dock and Engineering Co. Ltd. (this consisted of the Thompson, Laing and Crown yards, and the shiprepairers T W Greenwell). The name of the company was changed to Doxford and Sunderland Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd when the Doxford Yard joined. In 1966, the full merger of the constituent companies was completed and individual yard names were discontinued. In 1960, the North Sands Yard was upgraded and extended (into the Crown Yard which had been purchased by Thompson’s in 1946; see SMR No. 2723). A major new berth was constructed, at right angles to the previous slipways, which allowed the construction of vessels (supertankers and bulkcarriers) up to a deadweight of 100,000 tons. Prefabrication sheds were also constructed to facilitate the preparation of substantial component parts for vessels prior to final assembly on the berths. Numerous giant vessels were constructed by the North Sands Yard over the 1960s and 70s. The container liner Badagry Palm was the last ship launched in May 1979. The yard was then put on a care and maintenance basis with all fixtures and equipment preserved intact and functioning, whilst the Manor Quay was kept in use for fitting out vessels produced by other yards in the group. The building element of the yard was briefly reactivated in 1986 for the construction of a crane barge for the North Sea oil industry. No further work was forthcoming, and the yard was completely demolished in advance of the construction of housing.
Map Evidence
John Wood 1827, A Plan of the Town of Sunderland
A broad area of the northern river edge from Dame Dolly’s Rock to Folly End is described as ‘Ship Building Ground’, although no structures, yard boundaries or slipways are shown. A saw mill is marked adjacent to the Old Road to Whitburn and Strand Road is present.
First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, 1855 Sheet XIV.
A number of shipbuilding yards lie on the North Sands, on the south-western edge of Potato Garth, from Dame Dorothy Rock, in the north, to the site of Crowns Yard in the south (SMR No. 2733). It has not been established which of these was the site of Thompson’s original yard. There are around 20 buildings within the yards, the only one of which is named is a saw mill at the western edge of a yard. Conceivably, this mill served all the yards on the North Shore.
Second Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, 1898 Sheets VIII SW and SE.
Site now named North Sands Shipbuilding Yard. The river edge has been rationalised, and possibly walled. Ranges of buildings have altered considerably from first edition survey.
Third Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey, 1921 Shees VIII SW and SE.
Little alteration to the yard other than expansion to the north and construction of a new range of buildings in this area. Five slipways or building berths are shown in the southern area of the yard.
Tyne & Wear Archives Service hold a private letter book 1918-24; ledgers: 1944-60, private 1875-1933; journals: 1961-69, private 1944-68; annual statements 1894-1929; new ships and repairs private accounts 1874-1901; general measurements books 1889-1954; measurements and tonnage books 1900-65; ships particular book 1846-83; general arrangement plans 1941-45; ships contracts 1935-70; ship photographs 1930-69.
Tyne & Wear Museums Service hold ship plans and specification (nos. 160-685) 1880-1956(w).
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich holds ship plans (3 vessels) early 20th century {3}.

A wagonway in Monkwearmouth. Its function is unclear on the 1st edition OS mapping.

A small shipyard is shown on the first edition Ordnance survey lying immediately to the south of North Dock Cottage on the shore to the west of Potato Garth. The extent of the yard to the south is unclear. Within the yard were a sawpit and a small associated building. The Second Edition Survey shows the expansion of the yard to the north, across the site of North Dock Cottage and up to the dock itself. Ranges of buildings lie on the western edge of the yard. The site is now described as ‘North Dock Shipbuilding Yard’. By 1921 and the Third Edition Survey, the only major addition to the yard has been the insertion of a slipway at the southern end of the site.
Map Evidence
J Wood’s 1826, Plan of Sunderland
Wood’s plan shows the North Shore before North Dock was opened in 1837. The area of sand to the south of Dame Dolly’s Rock is annotated ‘Ship Building Ground’ but there is no indication of a shipyard to the north of the Rock, which is where this site would lie. In this area lies a Bond Yard and to the north of this a powder magazine.
First Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1855, Sheet XIV
A single shipbuilding yard is shown in the area. This runs as far north as North Dock Cottage, presumably built subsequent to the construction of the dock, it is not shown on Wood’s plan. The southern extent of the yard is not clear, but probably runs as far as Dame Dorothy Rock. Shown within the yard are a single sawpit and a small adjacent building, the function of which is not provided.
Second Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey 1898, Sheet VIII.SW
The yard has extended to the north across the site of North Dock Cottage and as far as North Dock, itself. Ranges of substantial buildings lie on the western edge of the yard. The yard is annotated as ‘North Dock Shipbuilding Yard’.
Third Edition Six Inches to One Mile Ordnance Survey1921, Sheet VIII.SW
There has been little alteration to the layout of the yard other than the addition of a slipway constructed in the southern area {3}.

Ropery, with possibly four rope walks. The OS 1st edition map is unclear, but this may have been called Mill House Ropery {1}. A group by the roadside ranging from the plain former dispensary (1873) in hand-made brick to a reinforced concrete 'box' of c.1930. To the rear was a long one-storey traditional ropewalk building. Mostly demolished {2}.

Brick Field. 1868-1891