Jane Wharton's Rainton to Penshaw Waggonway

HER Number:
17100

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Jane Wharton's Rainton to Penshaw Waggonway

Place:
Rainton

Map Sheet:
NZ35SW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Richard Wharton, the owner of Rainton Ducks Colliery, died in 1696. His widow, Jane, ran the colliery for the next 30 years. In 1697, she secured a new route for a waggonway from Rainton across Dubmire and Hall Moors and over Sedgeletch from where the line took up an old waggonway route used by Sir John Duck through Newbottle, Penshaw and down Waggon Hill to the south bank of the River Wear (Turnbull 2012, 76). In 1730, following Jane Wharton’s death, the colliery was passed by marriage to the Tempest family.

Easting:
312

Northing:
540

Grid Reference:
NZ312540

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Alan Williams Archaeology, 2013, Waggonways to the South Bank of the River Tyne and to the River Wear; Turnbull, L, 2012, Railways Before George Stephenson (entry 86) p 76 & 163; Archaeological Services Durham University, 2019 Land north of Coaley Lane, Newbottle, post-excavation assessment;