A much-changed river view

WE return to 1960 and a cloudy day on the Tyne.

If the same view today reveals a stretch of the river that is much quieter, back then it was home to busy shipbuilding and ship repair yards and a skyline cluttered with cranes.

Our photograph was taken almost 60 years ago at Bill Quay in Gateshead. On the left, we see Walker Naval Yard. Further down, just as the Tyne curves, is Wallsend’s Swan Hunter yard. And, opposite that, just out of site would have been Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn.

Each iconic site was a producer of countless vessels, some of them world-famous names.

At one time there were yards dotted along both sides of the river from Scotswood down to where the Tyne flowed into the sea.

At any of the following locations there would be the bang and clank of metal on metal and the flying sparks of welders’ torches.

The industry thrived at Scotswood, Elswick, Newcastle, Gateshead, St Peters, High Walker, Low Walker, Wallsend, Hebburn, Jarrow, Willington Quay, Howdon, Coble Dean, North Shields, South Shields, and here at Bill Quay.

Our 1960 photograph shows the small ship repair yard, RB Harrison’s.

The coaster, Oakdene which operated out of Sunderland, was undergoing repair work. The yard and its small office of shipping clerks dated back to around 1820 when it was opened by William Boutland. It was taken over by Robert Harrison toward the end of the 19th century, and work continued there until the early 1990s.

Also here at Bill Quay, five coal staiths, called Pelaw Main Staiths, were situated. It was just one of the sites along the Tyne – that included Wallsend, Jarrow, Tyne Dock, Derwenthaugh and notably Dunston – where coal was loaded on to ships destined for London and beyond.

Today, the Bill Quay and Hebburn side of the Tyne is home to the grassy, treelined Riverdside Park which is bisected by a winding path popular with cyclists and walkers..

There are also modern private housing estates standing where heavy industry once thrived.

In our image from the 1920s/30s, the first chimneys belong to the Tharsis Sulpher & Copper Works which set up in Hebburn in 1869.

Further along, we see the chimneys of the United Alkali Co who took over from Tennants Chemicals in Hebburn, in around 1865.

A recent view from Bill Quay down the River Tyne

A view from Bill Quay down the River Tyne, c1920s-30s (Norman Dunn)

The view looking down the River Tyne from Bill Quay, Gateshead, 1960