Tyne and Wear HER(15334): Chirton, Balkwell Farm Extension to Chirton Waggonway - Details
15334
N Tyneside
Chirton, Balkwell Farm Extension to Chirton Waggonway
Chirton
NZ36NW
Transport
Tramway
Wagonway
Post Medieval
C18
Documentary Evidence
This waggonway extended the line of Chirton Waggonway (route 3) to the north-west. Chirton Colliery was closed at least temporarily by 1777 and the area of mining extended to the north-west into the Balkwell Farm estate of Sir Ralph Milbank bordering Shiremoor (Turnbull 2012, 15 route 9A). A plan of the estate of 1784 (Watson 21/4) shows the waggonway extending across the farm with its main line running to a pit in Rye Hill Field; a long branch to an unnamed pit in North Barras Field; and a second branch to two pits in Low Trench Field. The waggonway is not shown on either Gibson’s (1787) or Casson’s (1801) maps of the Tyne and may have closed by 1787.
3258
6919
NZ32586919
Alan Williams Archaeology, July 2012, Waggonways North of the River Tyne - Tyne and Wear HER Enhancement Project; North East Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineering, Watson 21/4, Plan of Balkwell Farm, the property of Sir Ralph Milbank. Surveyed by J Fryer 1784; Les Turnbull, 2012, Railways Before George Stephenson (route 9A); WSP, 2014, West Chirton (South) Industrial Estate - Archaeological Assessment