An unidentified wreck 200 metres out from the shingle beach, just south of Souter Lighthouse. In 12 metres of water. Recent dives have produced portholes and brass fittings. It is a relatively small wreck.

This is a substantial wreck lying due east of Souter in about 24 metres of water. It may be the wreck of the Chamois, a 2100 ton steamship built in 1890. She was returning to the Tyne from Rotterdam in ballast. The wreck has been well dispersed. A second report gives her as being wrecked on Whitburn Rocks (Collings) and Whitburn Steel (NMR). Iron and Steel, 2,100-ton, 87.5m long, 11.8m beam, 5.8m draught, British steamship, registered in London. She was built in 1900 and was owned by W.Jackson of London, Master: Jefferies.(Spokes has an alternative construction date of 1890). Her single iron propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine that used two boilers.
On 8 January 1903, the Chamois was in ballast on passage from Rotterdam for the Tyne, under the command of Swansea man Captain Geo. Jeffries and carrying a crew of twenty-one, when she drove ashore during thick fog and heavy weather. The vessel could just be dimly seen offshore from the beach neat Whitburn Steel, with her head pointing north-north-west. The coastguard raised the alarm in response to signals from the stranded vessel and very quickly the lifesaving apparatus was set up by the rocket brigade, under Chief Officer Parks R.N. The seabed at the point where the Chamois grounded is rather flat, fairly far offshore and proved too great a distance for the rocket lines. An immediate request was made for the new lifeboat William Charles to be launched was made. She had just made her first trial run the day before, under the command of Captain Holmes, the Inspecting Officer for the RNLI.
Reports at the time say, ‘she was a smart boat in every respect, the wheels of the carriage running on iron plates which loosely encircled the rims. In this way a flat surface is presented to the soft yielding sand and the device worked admirably’. The lifeboat went out in a nasty and dangerous ground swell and rescued twenty one crew, including Captain Jeffries and brought them safely ashore. Several tugs made a number of unsuccessful attempts to pull the vessel off the rocks, but the heavy ground swell had taken its toll and left her badly holed. With her full of water and orientated at an impossible angle, the wind and sea having swung her round to N.N.E., she was written off and became a total loss. Some salvage work took place of the vessel’s top structures, but the rest of her was left to the elements.

The wreck lies just north of the Whitburn Steel on a seabed of rocks and small reefs, in a general depth of about 4m. She is now totally smashed up, except for a few twisted, decaying plates, ribs, frames, pieces of broken machinery and a little section of her bows. Very little else of the Chamois is recognisable today.

Another entry titles Chamois ? In the NMR database suggests a location of due east Souter and a depth of 24m. There may be some confusion with this entry and the Blairhall or Rotha?

Grid reference conversion made 09.02.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 54 56 36 W 01 21 2

Lies 1 mile east of Hendon at 54 53 5N 01 19 5W. Popular spot with fishermen due to the large quantities of pollack, pouting, coalfish and cod. The reef sides are covered in soft corals, hydroids and plumose Anemone. The wreck lies at the northern end of the reef and may be the Linden. She lies upside down in two parts. The bow section is 200 feet to the east. Prop shaft, rudder, machinery and chains can be seen. The Linden was a cargo steamship built in 1877. She was 218 feet long and 1068 tons. Wrecked off Sunderland on 29 January 1888 in ballast.

Shown on an Admiralty chart of 1878. The ship sank prior to that date. It lies 580 yards south of the old north pier of the harbour entrance at Sunderland and 150 yards south-east of the Outer Scar. The Cornwall was a steamer. Lies in 10 metres of water at 001 20 08 54 01 00 (Collings). Iron, 677 tons, small steamship, registered at the port of London. Built at Sunderland for the Lambton Coal Company in 1873 and owned by H.T. Morton of Durham. Her single iron propeller was powered by a two-cylinder, invert-compound steam engine that used one boiler. On 9 September 1884, the Cornwall with sixteen crew and one passenger was on route from London to Sunderland under the command of a Captain G. Bell. She was steaming steadily north, just off Scarborough in a thick fog, when at 1a.m., the 3,000-ton iron steamer Stanmore of Liverpool, accidentally rammed into her stern end, close to the engines. The force of the impact left a huge gash all the way down the side of the Cornwall, below the water-line and she immediately began to fill up with water. Most of her crew scrambled to safety over the bows of the Stanmore, which stayed with the damaged ship until the arrival of a large sea-going tug that assisted the Cornwall on her remaining passage to Sunderland. Unfortunately, the extent of the damage proved too much for her, because at 9 am and within a few hundred metres of her destination, the Cornwall went to the bottom. She was never salvaged and quickly succumbed to the elements.

The wreck lies approximately 575m directly south of the old, now disused south harbour entrance to the South Docks at Hendon. The seabed around the area where the Cornwall lies in 10-11m consists mostly of flat rock and small reefs with a few short strands of kelp and a heavy coating of sediment. Much of the remaining pipes and twisted wreckage are well concreted to the bed. There is no sign of her propeller.

The Ian Spokes database states that this ship ran aground.

Grid reference conversion made 26.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 54 53 39 W 01 20 26

Lies 1 mile north of the wreck of the Gitana (HER 12918). A rather poor wreck site.

Gitana was a brig, of Methel, which ran aground on March 2nd 1874. Ashore in dense fog on rocks about 2.5 miles north of Seaham Harbour. 10 crew saved. The nationality of this vessel has been expressed as both German and Lithuanian, since the Prussian port of Memel is Klaipeda in modern Lithuania.

The Welbeck Cinema and Playhouse was the last silent cinema to be built in Newcastle. It was built by a company which formed in December 1928. The chairman was William Crocker, Wallsend fruit merchant and managing director of the Albion Cinema in North Shields. The architect was J. Newton Fatkin. The Welbeck seated 688 people in the stalls and 312 in the circle. The large stage had dressing rooms below and an orchestra pit. It opened on 4 November 1929. Stage acts were infrequent. An RCA sound system was installed before 1930. The Welbeck was a 'first class' cinema. The decorating was done by professionals. The circle was reseated in 1940 and the stalls in 1949, reducing the capacity to 567. Around 1943 two Super-Simplex projectors were installed and new silver screen curtains. A bingo licence was allowed in 1967. The Welbeck was last licensed as a cinema in December 1968. It became a full-time bingo club run by the Noble Organisation. Its attractive tiled façade was hidden behind Classic-style metal cladding. In 1989 it was taken over by Granada Leisure and renamed Essoldo.

The Tatler News Cinema was originally a café owned by Louis Bertorelli. It had an additional entrance on Haymarket, opposite the bus station. In March 1936 architect J. Newton Fatkin submitted plans to alter the café into a 488 seat newsreel cinema with a café above. The Tatler came under the control of E.J. Hinge. The cinema was decorated by Fred A. Foster of Nottingham. The side walls were decorated with horizontal stripes of cream, silver, orange and old rose with a dado of deep rose and silver. Between vertical pilasters there were rectangular panels of abstract painting. The ceiling had a central panel of rose and cream, flanked by silver moulded plaster coves. The ceiling and ante-proscenium grilles were lit by concealed lighting in the pilasters and above the exit doors. The curtains were cream satin with gold trim. The café above the cinema was decorated in cream, grey and stippled silver with black and red carpet and curtains. In July 1964 the Tatler was bought by Classic Cinemas Ltd, who fitted a new cinemascope screen, Projectomatic system and redecorated the café. By November 1969 the Tatler was one of only four news theatres left in the country. From September 1970 the Classic, as it was now named, became a cinema club for members only. Seated were reduced to 418. From November 1971 there was to be a monthly striptease. The cinema was renamed the Tatler Cinema Club in February 1972. In November 1979 the cinema opened to the general public again as the Classic. It closed on 24 August 1980. Shops and a bank now occupy the site.

Brick joinery works of NRD Ltd, Joinery Specialists. Brick with a corrugated metal roof. Demolished in 1998.

West Thornley Farm is shown on Ordnance Survey first edition of 1858. The farmhouse and stable block are still extant. The farmhouse is sandstone, probably two houses orgininally, each with a central front door (there is a timber porch with slate roof and stone ridge tiles over the southern one) and four sash windows. The southern part of the house is built of ashlar blocks, the northern half, which is taller, of random rubble. The roofs are slate and there are three brick chimney stacks. To the rear of the house is a random rubble stable or barn with a red painted door with stone lintel and small six-pane window. Upper windows have been blocked up. The roof is slate. There is a further stone rubble farm building with a central door and two windows either side of the door. The roof is corrugated metal. At one end is a brick extension with a chimney. The last farm building is also stone rubble but has been painted white. One end of the building has two green-painted timber doors, a sash window and a new slate roof. The other end is opened fronted on one side, the tile roof supported on a stone column. There is also a tiny brick structure with a metal and concrete roof which looks like an air raid shelter.