Rowlands Gill Conservation Area

HER Number:
11882

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Rowlands Gill Conservation Area

Place:
Rowlands Gill

Map Sheet:
NZ15NE

Class:
Domestic

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Settlement

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C21

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Designated on 20th June 2000. Rowlands Gill Conservation Area is an Edwardian housing development made up of large detached houses in substantial gardens, and smaller detached and semi-detached houses. There are two denes with extensive tree cover. Rowlands Gill was first settled by farmers in the 16th and 17th centuries. A turnpike road (Burnopfield Road) was built in 1835 (HER 3583). In 1865 the Newcastle to Consett Railway (HER 1019) was completed. The original village of industrial housing grew up next to the railway line. In 1896 only Smailes Farm existed west of this village. But in 1897 the Strathmore Estate offered fields on Strathmore Road for sale and the Northern Allotment Association bought them to build houses for working families. Between 1897 and 1912 over 50% of the houses in the Conservation Area were built. The houses have a uniform character and were built on graden suburb principles. Strathmore Road includes substantial houses in large plots. In Cross Terrace the houses are more modest in size. All of the houses are brick or render, with exposed timbers, substantial gables, slate roofs, decorative ridge tiles and finials, bargeboards, half-dormers, bay windows, wide driveways and high hedges. There are many mature trees on Dene Avenue, Orchard Road and Dipwood Road. There is a pair of buff brick Victorian villas on the east side of Orchard Avenue and a modern house. Orchard Terrace is a Victorian terrace in red brick or render with slate roofs and bay windows. The former co-operative store in the centre of the village was built in 1903 in red brick and the rear delivery yard and outbuildings survive. In front of it is the village war memorial (HER 10947). The village lacks a true centre but the memorial creates a focal point. Opposite is St. Barnabas' Church built in 1956. The methodist church stands at the junction of Strathmore Road and Dipwood Road. Along the eastern part of Dipwood Road there are wooded slopes. The western part has large houses in big gardens. South of the road is Dipwood House and lodge. On the north side there is Sphere Cottage and a number of 1960s houses. On the north side of Lintzford Road there are attractive Edwardian detached houses with large gardens. To the south the houses are of a variety of form and style. Smailes Lane can be seen on the earliest maps of the area, passing Samiles Farm (now gone). The eastern end still resembles a country lane, winding and bordered by mature trees and verges with wild flowers. There are large detached villas on the south side behind tall hedges. The western end of the lane is now an ordinary subsurban road. The Victory Social Club on Strathmore Road has some unsympathetic extensions.

Easting:
1591

Northing:
5819

Grid Reference:
NZ15915819

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Gateshead Council, April 1999, Conservation Area Policy Guidelines, Strategies and Character Statements, Proposed Rowlands Gill Conservation Area, pp 82-85 (Supplementary Planning Guidance), pp 85-88; Gateshead Council, July 2003, Rowlands Gill Conservation Area Policy Guidelines, Strategy and Character Statement (Appendix to Supplementary Planning Guidance 1), pp 19-24; D. Hutchinson, 1983, Rowlands Gill; D. Hutchinson, 1994, Rowlands Gill Past and Present; G.A. Low, 1961, The Village of Rowlands Gill; Tyne and Wear Archives DT.NER3/16/162-167 Rowlands Gill