Gateshead, Greenesfield Locomotive Works

HER Number:
3488

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Gateshead, Greenesfield Locomotive Works

Place:
Gateshead

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE NZ26SW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Railway Transport Site

Site Type: Specific:
Railway Works

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
The Greenesfield Works was for many years the largest employer in the town. It was opened in the 1850s and by the early years of 20th century over 3,000 men relied on it for their livelihood. But the cramped site limited its expansion and in 1910 locomotive building was transferred to a new works at Darlington. Locomotive repairing continued at Greenesfield until 1932 when that ceased also; the works reopened during the Second World War but was finally closed in 1959. The hotel is listed grade II. The Station Hotel of 1844 is a stone building whose unmodified façade to the north is plain, with 7 bays and a hipped roof. It ceased to be a hotel in 1850 when the adjacent railway station closed to passenger traffic. The hotel was extended and converted into offices for the works in c.1869. The boiler shop was built c.1871. There is also a smith's shop, pattern shop, L-shaped office block, 1851-2 railway workshop, Western Pacific Shed - the largest building on the site, built in the mid-late C20, and the 1844 train shed. A red sandstone parapet wall built on a base of reused firebricks survives. Extensive areas of wood block paving associated with the smith's shops has been recorded. The sandstone retaining walls onto Rabbit Banks Road are of interest. There is an incised cross at one end, possibly a reused boundary marker relating to the Bishop Of Durham's lands above Pipewellgate. Now Ochre Yards residential complex.

Easting:
2514

Northing:
6332

Grid Reference:
NZ25146332

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 3488 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, c.1855, 6 inch scale, Durham, 2 I.Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 4 Dept. of National Heritage, of Buildings of Special ... Interest, 1&5/42 WSP/Northern Counties Archaeological Services, 2000, Riverview, Gateshead Cultural Heritage and Archaeology section of EIA Northern Counties Archaeological Services, 2003, Greenesfield Railway Works, Gateshead Recording and Watching Brief; Grace McCombie, 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead - Pevsner Architectural Guide, p. 43; Northern Counties Archaeological Services, 2001, Riverview: Greenesfield, Gateshead, Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Statement in WSP Environmental Ltd. Environmental Statement