Tyne and Wear HER(4199): Walker, Iron Works - Details
4199
Newcastle
Walker, Iron Works
Walker
NZ26SE
Industrial
Metal Smelting Site
Iron Works
Early Modern
C19
Documentary Evidence
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.
2972
6365
NZ29726365
<< 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