Tyne and Wear HER(12911): Rowlands Gill, West Thornley Farm, engine and generator house - Details
12911
Gateshead
Rowlands Gill, West Thornley Farm, engine and generator house
Rowlands Gill
NZ15NE
Industrial
Power Generation Site
Generator House
Modern
C20
Extant Building
Generator house associated with Lilley Brickworks (HER 5140). This generator house is shown on OS maps from the fourth edition of 1939. The earliest maps label it as an engine house. The building is constructed from yellow brick in English Garden Wall 1 and 3 bond with grey mortar. The roof is slate and has a metal chimney over a small extension to the south-west. The north-west and south-east elevations are mirror images of each other. Each has a tall window with stone sills and lintels and a large double door set in recessed brick. The doors are accessed by steps with black painted railings. An I-section steel girder protrudes from the south-east elevation. The girder supports an A frame and pulley system. Below the tall windows are small metal hatch doors with metal lintels. There are two windows in the north-east elevation, one is narrower than the other. Between the windows is a double door. The roof at this end of the building protrudes beyond the gable end with timber bargeboards, finial and supports near the top. The south-west elevation has two windows, one above the other on each side of the extension. The south-west elevation of the extension has a large double door and a small window above. Adjacent to the window is a set of bells, possibly for an alarm or telephone. Above the windows are two protruding I-shaped steel joists, one of which supports a pulley system. The north-west and south-east elevations of the extension have a door, below which are sockets for a timber balcony and steps. Attached to the north-east corner of the building is a coal bunker with a hinged timber cover. The interior is covered in grey plaster render which is painted white to a height of 2m. A large part of the floor is raised up. There is a pit in the south-west part of this raised area. Two parallel girders run beneath the ceiling north-west to south-east. Running along the top of the girders is a small whelled bogey with a rope hanging from one end. Adjacent to the south-west wall is a metal frame with porcelain electrical insulators. There is also an original fuse box and a small tank. There is a mezzanine floor in the extension. OS maps show railway lines running into the building from the north east.
1685
5915
NZ16855915
Julie Parker, Tyne and Wear Museums, August 2008, West Thornley Farm, Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear - Archaeological Buildings Recording