Marleyhill Wagonway

HER Number:
3713

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Marleyhill Wagonway

Place:
Whickham

Map Sheet:
NZ25NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Marleyhill Wagonway. After the building of the Causey Arch, a number of branches were developed to exploit the Tanfield lease north and east of Tanfield village. These branches included: a Tanfield Branch from the Arch to Tanfield Colliery; a Tanfield Leith Branch that followed the Causey Burn upstream before heading for Tantobie; a Tanfield Lea Branch along the west bank of the Causey Burn from North Causey around 1755. After the merging of the Tanfield and Western Ways around 1800 all these branches disappeared. The old Tanfield Lea Waggonway was bought in 1836 by the Brandling Junctoin Railway and restored it to the Redheugh terminus. It later gave rise to the North Eastern Railway’s Tanfield Branch, which survived until closure in 1964. The branch lay in Bowes’ Northbanks and Marley Hill land and joined the Tanfield Way at Bowes Bridge. It appears on a plan of 1728, with a likely railhead near Pickering Nook. The Tanfield Moor Branch had a long, but not continuous, existence. Around 1800 it was used to convert the Western and Tanfield Ways into a single system; later it became the backbone of the Pontop and Jarrow Railway and as such survived in the 20th century. There are a confusing number of different branches to Axwell’s estate of Beckley. It was twice joined to the Western Way and twice to Tanfield. The colliery was won in 1725 and was at that time joined to both Western Ways at the end of Crookgate Bridge. Beckley closed in May 1726, so the link with the Western Way only lasted for one season. The colliery was then joined to the Tanfield Way. Beckley was important to the Grand Allies because it was a working colliery already in production and in its first four years of their lease it produced far more output than any of their other leases. North of Bobgins bridge there was a steep pull and this may have contributed to difficulties in optimising the output. A second waggonway entry was built from the south by two short branch lines, probably in 1729. Beckley was said to be almost worked out in 1739, and the branch must then have been lifted. It is possible that Beckley was once again joined to the Western Way in the 1740s. It was leased to the Grand Allies in 1748 for 14 years so the branches may have been reorganised once again.

Easting:
2075

Northing:
5795

Grid Reference:
NZ20755795

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 3713 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, c.1855, 6 inch scale, Durham, 6 G. Bennett, E. Clavering & A. Rounding, 1990, A Fighting Trade - Rail Transport in Tyne Coal 1600-1800 Northern Catholic History, 15, 10 Gateshead Library Local Studies, GPL G/CP 1/145 Durham Records Office, D/CG 16/1706 40, 60, 95, 106, 116, 130 Gateshead Library Local Studies, GPL G/CK 1/59 and GPL G/CK 1/66 Waggonways on South Bank of Tyne, Durham Records Office, D/St/P17/2 Plan of the Colleries on the Rivers Tyne and Wear, Gateshead Library Local Studies, GPL CAB A1/10 W. Casson, 1801, Plan showing Colleries and Waggonways on the rivers Tyne and Wear, Gateshead Library Local Studies, GPL CAB A1/4 R.L. Galloway, 1898, of Coal Mining and the Coal Trade, volume 1, p 373 pp 373-4 Waggonways and Railways of North-West Durham, Durham Records Office, D/CG 6/1435 J.T.W. Bell, 1843, The Great Northern Coalfield, 2nd series Dunstan Staiths and Waggonways, c.1810, Gateshead Library Local Studies, GPL BP 1/83 1723, Northbanks and proposed Tanfield Ways, 28 April 1723, Gateshead Library Local Studies, GPL CP/1/140 1742, Tanfield Moor Wagonways, Durham Records Office D/XP 14, Northumberland Records Office 960 1745, Waggonways in Beckley and Andrew's House c.1745, Durham Records Office, D/Bo/G 34 (iii) 1810, East and West Shield Row, 1810, Durham Records Office, D/Bo/G34 (xlii) Catch Pit, Hutton Colliery Waggonway, mid 18th century, Durham Records Office, D/St/P13/4 1761, Tanfield Moor c.1729 - 1761, Northumberland Records Office, 17/197C 64, Gateshead Library Local Studies, GPL CAB A 1788, The Western and Tanfield Waggonways, Northumberland Records Office, 309M 231 Northumberland Records Office, 725/F2 268 Newcastle University Library, Misc 10 183-6 Northumberland Records Office, 309 Eng Rep, 24 780 Northumberland Records Office, NEIMME GA Minutes, vol 20, 107 Public Records Office, Chancery Lane, London, 18th century, 1081/16 Eng Rep, 22 611 Durham Records Office, D/CG 7/236-335 Northumberland Records Office, NEIMME Johnson, vol 2 1, vol 3 1 Durham Records Office, D/St B1/23/5 Northumberland Records Office, Buddle 14 251 et seq (fuller) Publications of the Surtees Society, 178 226 Durham Records Office, D/St B1/23/5 35 Thom Pit accounts A. Williams, 2004, A Fighting Trade - Review and mapping of routes; unpublished document for Tyne & Wear Heritage Environment Record