Chirton, Balkwell Farm Extension to Chirton Waggonway

HER Number:
15334

District:
N Tyneside

Site Name:
Chirton, Balkwell Farm Extension to Chirton Waggonway

Place:
Chirton

Map Sheet:
NZ36NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
This waggonway extended the line of Chirton Waggonway (route 3) to the north-west. Chirton Colliery was closed at least temporarily by 1777 and the area of mining extended to the north-west into the Balkwell Farm estate of Sir Ralph Milbank bordering Shiremoor (Turnbull 2012, 15 route 9A). A plan of the estate of 1784 (Watson 21/4) shows the waggonway extending across the farm with its main line running to a pit in Rye Hill Field; a long branch to an unnamed pit in North Barras Field; and a second branch to two pits in Low Trench Field. The waggonway is not shown on either Gibson’s (1787) or Casson’s (1801) maps of the Tyne and may have closed by 1787.

Easting:
3258

Northing:
6919

Grid Reference:
NZ32586919

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Alan Williams Archaeology, July 2012, Waggonways North of the River Tyne - Tyne and Wear HER Enhancement Project; North East Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineering, Watson 21/4, Plan of Balkwell Farm, the property of Sir Ralph Milbank. Surveyed by J Fryer 1784; Les Turnbull, 2012, Railways Before George Stephenson (route 9A); WSP, 2014, West Chirton (South) Industrial Estate - Archaeological Assessment