Sunniside, Peter's Gates

HER Number:
16390

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Sunniside, Peter's Gates

Place:
Sunniside

Map Sheet:
NZ25NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Railway Transport Site

Site Type: Specific:
Level Crossing Gate

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Demolished Building

Description:
Located where the Tanfield Railway crossed the A6076 (Burdon Plain). A gate keepers lodge is shown on the 1858 Ordnance Survey map. This was probably erected in the 1830s. The lodge was stone with a slate roof. There was a large fireplace inside and a small oven and wooden bench. A window looked out onto the gates. Close by was a well which was used by the gatekeeper until the late 1930s. Harry Askew was the gatekeeper around 1920. Robert Boyd in 1934. The gatekeepers were employed by the North Eastern Railway Company. In 1907 the two locomotives at Bowes Bridge made 21 trips between Sunniside and Tanfield via Peter's Gates. After the First World War traffic on the Tanfield Railway declined. By 1945 it had reduced to about 1/3 of the 1907 figure. In 1957 the gatekeeper only had to open and close the gates four times a day. The engine driver would blow his whistle on approach from Bowes Bridge. On 30th January 1937 three trucks crashed through Peter's Gates. One truck was derailed, the other two crashed through the gates at Pennyfine Road.

Easting:
2095

Northing:
5850

Grid Reference:
NZ20955850

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Sunniside Local History Society, no date, The Crescent & Peter's Gates, Sunniside, www.sunnisidelocalhistorysociety.co.uk/crescent.html