Walker, Iron Works

HER Number:
4199

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Walker, Iron Works

Place:
Walker

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Metal Smelting Site

Site Type: Specific:
Iron Works

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
In 1810, William Losh (of Alkali Works, HER ref. 4197) along with Thomas Wilson and Thomas Bell, opened an iron foundry and engineering works opposite the alkali works. The Walker Iron Works was the largest in the North of England and included the manufacture of rails for the first railways, steam engines for mills, collieries and ironworks, and iron boilers and ship plates. Towards the end of the 1800s rising costs of importing raw materials eventually led to the transfer of the Walker iron industry to Middlesborough and the iron works closed in 1891.

Easting:
2972

Northing:
6365

Grid Reference:
NZ29726365

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 4199 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, 1864, 6 inch scale, Northumberland, 98 L. Michael, 1992, Bygone Walker; The Industrial Resources of the District of the Three Northern Rivers, The Tyne, Wear and Tees including the reports on the local manufacturers read before The British Association in 1863 (edited by Sir W.G. Armstrong, I. Lowthian Bell, John Taylor and Dr Richardson, 1864); Tyne and Wear Museums Archaeology, 2012, Nelson Road, Walker - Archaeological Assessment