Howdon, wagonway bridge abutments

HER Number:
5012

District:
N Tyneside

Site Name:
Howdon, wagonway bridge abutments

Place:
Howdon

Map Sheet:
NZ36NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Railway Transport Site

Site Type: Specific:
Railway Bridge

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
Masonry remains comprising continuous runs of wagonway bridge abutments formerly carrying other mineral lines across the route of the Seaton Burn Colliery Wagonway to staiths on the Tyne at Northumberland Dock. The remains comprise two roughly parallel continuous lengths of bridge abutments built of sandstone with the most recent additions in concrete. Nothing of the original trackbed is visible. The abutments flank part of an earlier wagonway, the Brunton and Shields Railroad, constructed by Benjamin Thompson in 1826. At this point the line of the Brunton and Shields Railway was built on land belonging to the Duke of Northumberland and was an incline known as the 'Tyne Plane'. The abutments represent later colliery lines being carried across 1826 way to reach staiths on the east side of the Hayhole Lead Works and ultimately in the Northumberland Dock. The earliest abutments were in position by 1856, with further abutments added by 1866 and final additions for the Tyne Improvement Commissioner's railway by 1881.

Easting:
3381

Northing:
6671

Grid Reference:
NZ33816671

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 5012 >> Northern Counties Archaeological Services, 1998, Seaton Burn Waggonway, Archaeological recording & watching brief