Derwenthaugh Coke Works
Encyclopedia
Derwenthaugh Coke Works was a coking plant
on the River Derwent
near Swalwell
. The works were built in 1928 on the site of the Crowley's Iron Works, which had at one time been the largest iron works in Europe. The coke works was closed and demolished in the late 1980s, and replaced by Derwenthaugh Park.
and Winlaton Mill had been that of Crowley's Ironworks, which for a time was the largest ironworks in Europe. The coke works opened on the site in 1928. They were owned and operated by the Consett Iron Company
.
which washed and blended the coal prior to the coking process stood at the north-eastern end of the site, along with large storage bunkers. A conveyor fed blended coal from these bunkers into another bunker on top of the ovens which in turn fed the charging car. The ovens themselves were parallel to the A694, which passes the site, and stood on the area of land now occupied by the two football pitches. There were several railway sidings for both coal and coke between the ovens and the road. The pusher was on the opposite side of the ovens, and the coke was shoved out on the side nearest the road. The quenching tower was at the north-eastern end of the battery of ovens, near the CPP, and the chimney was at the opposite end. Between the ovens and the river were the power plant with its associated boilers and chimneys, as well as the by-products plant. The latter "scrubbed" the gas produced in the ovens, extracting chemicals such as tar and ammonia, which were piped into storage tanks. The gas was then stored in a tall gas holder to the south-east of the site, near the river.
There was a motive power depot
nearby to house the locomotives which shunted the extensive network of NCB
sidings and lines which served the works and the lower part of the Derwent valley. In the last few years of the works' existence, these were all diesel locomotives, but prior to this there were a large number of steam locomotives stabled here. One of them, No. 41, was the oldest working NCB locomotive in the country, having been built for the Consett Iron Co. in 1883, by Kitson and Co. in Leeds
, works No. 2509. It was of the Stephenson
Long Boiler
design, and unlike the ubiquitous 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 side tanks and saddle tanks
which served most of the industrial railways of the north-east, it was a pannier tank, (a layout common on the Great Western Railway
, but rarely seen elsewhere). Prior to the demise of its fleet of steam locomotives, Derwenthaugh began to receive locomotives from other NCB sheds, either because they had closed, or the locomotive had become surplus to requirements. Nos. 7 and 59 were two such locomotives, easily identifiable as former NCB Lambton system residents from Philadelphia
shed by their narrow curved cabs which allowed them to negotiate a tunnel with very limited clearances on the line to the docks at Sunderland.
Over the years the plant took coal from Chopwell Colliery
, and in NCB days, from Marley Hill Colliery, via the nearby Clockburn Drift, as well as the opencast mines which operated in the area via the opencast disposal point at Swalwell. The last local deep-mined coal used at the plant came from the Victoria Seam at Sacriston Colliery near Durham
. The coke produced was shipped from a staithe on the River Tyne
, which also had facilities for the storage and shipping of liquid tar and creosote produced at the works.
. Excess gas from the works was sold to the Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company. Initially the alternators' associated boilers were fired by waste gasses from the coking process, but in 1931 the boilers were converted to fire coal because of an increase in demand for the gas from the Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company.
exchange sidings and the staithe. The staithe closed in 1960 but is still in existence, albeit minus its machinery. Some of the rolling stock has survived, with at least one hopper wagon marked NCB D/HAUGH residing on the Tanfield Railway
, along with a Consett Iron Co. van which for many years served as part of Derwenthaugh MPD's breakdown train. The Kitson pannier tank was also rescued from the cutter's torch in 1972, and in 1986 was restored to its original identity as Consett Iron Co. "A" class No.5, and repainted in the maroon livery it carried when new. It is now a static exhibit at the Stephenson Railway Museum
in North Shields
. Not so lucky was No. 42, which was identical to No. 41, built to works No. 2510. This met the fate of most other British steam locomotives, and was cut up on-site in 1968. The railway line was originally constructed as the Garesfield & Chopwell Railway to serve collieries further up the valley, but terminated at Winlaton Mill by the time the works closed. The embankment on which the part of the line west of the works ran can be glimpsed from the road towards Rowlands Gill
. The stone abutments of a bridge on this line can also be seen to the rear of the Golden Lion pub, and the style of construction (yellow pit-bricks and tall arched windows) of the house immediately adjacent to this pub indicates that it was probably not originally a house, but a structure associated with the mines and railways. After Derwenthaugh closed, Monkton
near Hebburn was the only remaining coke works in the area, Lambton, Norwood and Hawthorn all having closed a couple of years previously (the latter was the newest works, built to process coal from the massive Hawthorn Combined Mine in 1961, but was mothballed during the 1984-85 miners' strike and never re-opened). The site of Norwood Coke Works became part of the 1990 Gateshead National Garden Festival
and is now home to the Festival Park housing estate. 1990 also saw the closure of Monkton, marking the end of coke production in the area. Today, the only coke ovens remaining in the north east of England are those which serve the blast furnace at Redcar
.
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
on the River Derwent
River Derwent, North East England
The River Derwent is a river on the border between County Durham and Northumberland in the north east of England. It broadens into the Derwent Reservoir, west of Consett. The Derwent is a tributary of the River Tyne, which it joins near the MetroCentre...
near Swalwell
Swalwell
Swalwell is a village in Tyne and Wear, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, in the United Kingdom.-History:On 27 August 1640, an encampment of soldiers was gathered in the fields north of Whickham church on the slope down to Swalwell. This was part of the Royalist army of King Charles I preparing to...
. The works were built in 1928 on the site of the Crowley's Iron Works, which had at one time been the largest iron works in Europe. The coke works was closed and demolished in the late 1980s, and replaced by Derwenthaugh Park.
History
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the site near SwalwellSwalwell
Swalwell is a village in Tyne and Wear, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, in the United Kingdom.-History:On 27 August 1640, an encampment of soldiers was gathered in the fields north of Whickham church on the slope down to Swalwell. This was part of the Royalist army of King Charles I preparing to...
and Winlaton Mill had been that of Crowley's Ironworks, which for a time was the largest ironworks in Europe. The coke works opened on the site in 1928. They were owned and operated by the Consett Iron Company
Consett Iron Company
The Consett Iron Company Ltd was a major United Kingdom industrial undertaking based in the Consett area of County Durham. The company traded as colliery and limestone quarry owners and iron and steel manufacturers. The company was registered on 4 April 1864 as successor to the Derwent & Consett...
.
Layout and operations
The works was situated by the dam marking the upper tidal limit of the river, where Swalwell Juniors F.C. now stands. The CPPCoal preparation plant
A coal preparation plant is a facility that washes coal of soil and rock, preparing it for transport to market. A CPP may also be called a "coal handling and preparation plant" , "prep plant," "tipple," or "wash plant"....
which washed and blended the coal prior to the coking process stood at the north-eastern end of the site, along with large storage bunkers. A conveyor fed blended coal from these bunkers into another bunker on top of the ovens which in turn fed the charging car. The ovens themselves were parallel to the A694, which passes the site, and stood on the area of land now occupied by the two football pitches. There were several railway sidings for both coal and coke between the ovens and the road. The pusher was on the opposite side of the ovens, and the coke was shoved out on the side nearest the road. The quenching tower was at the north-eastern end of the battery of ovens, near the CPP, and the chimney was at the opposite end. Between the ovens and the river were the power plant with its associated boilers and chimneys, as well as the by-products plant. The latter "scrubbed" the gas produced in the ovens, extracting chemicals such as tar and ammonia, which were piped into storage tanks. The gas was then stored in a tall gas holder to the south-east of the site, near the river.
There was a motive power depot
Motive power depot
Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, is a name given to places where locomotives are stored when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds", or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and...
nearby to house the locomotives which shunted the extensive network of NCB
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
sidings and lines which served the works and the lower part of the Derwent valley. In the last few years of the works' existence, these were all diesel locomotives, but prior to this there were a large number of steam locomotives stabled here. One of them, No. 41, was the oldest working NCB locomotive in the country, having been built for the Consett Iron Co. in 1883, by Kitson and Co. in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, works No. 2509. It was of the Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
Long Boiler
Long Boiler locomotive
The Long Boiler locomotive was the object of a patent by Robert Stephenson and the name became synonymous with the pattern.-History:It is generally perceived that it arose out of attempts to match the power of broad gauge locomotives within the limitations of the loading gauge of Stephenson railways...
design, and unlike the ubiquitous 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 side tanks and saddle tanks
Tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...
which served most of the industrial railways of the north-east, it was a pannier tank, (a layout common on the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
, but rarely seen elsewhere). Prior to the demise of its fleet of steam locomotives, Derwenthaugh began to receive locomotives from other NCB sheds, either because they had closed, or the locomotive had become surplus to requirements. Nos. 7 and 59 were two such locomotives, easily identifiable as former NCB Lambton system residents from Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Tyne and Wear
Philadelphia is a village in Tyne and Wear, England. It lies on the A182 road between Newbottle and Shiney Row. Unlike Washington, it post-dates its namesake in the United States, being named during the American Revolutionary War by a local colliery owner to commemorate the British capture of the...
shed by their narrow curved cabs which allowed them to negotiate a tunnel with very limited clearances on the line to the docks at Sunderland.
Over the years the plant took coal from Chopwell Colliery
Chopwell Colliery
Chopwell Colliery was a coal mine situated at Chopwell, in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. The pit was first sank in 1781, and was closed on 25 November 1966. The colliery was bought by the Consett Iron Company in 1896, before being handed over to the National Coal Board in 1947 when the British coal...
, and in NCB days, from Marley Hill Colliery, via the nearby Clockburn Drift, as well as the opencast mines which operated in the area via the opencast disposal point at Swalwell. The last local deep-mined coal used at the plant came from the Victoria Seam at Sacriston Colliery near Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
. The coke produced was shipped from a staithe on the River Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...
, which also had facilities for the storage and shipping of liquid tar and creosote produced at the works.
Electricity generation
When built, the works were fitted with turbo-alternators. Surplus electricity from the coke works was sent to Chopwell Colliery's power stationPower station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
. Excess gas from the works was sold to the Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company. Initially the alternators' associated boilers were fired by waste gasses from the coking process, but in 1931 the boilers were converted to fire coal because of an increase in demand for the gas from the Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company.
Closure
The works were closed in 1986 and the site was gradually cleared and de-contaminated. In addition to the football and tennis clubs on the site of the works itself, the surrounding land (which had been covered in spoil from the Clockburn Drift and waste from the coal-washing process) was cleaned up and landscaped, and is now the site of Derwenthaugh Park.Remains
Very little evidence of the plant remains, however, the large stone wall separating the railway line (now a public bridleway) from the A694 where it ran along a narrow ledge between the river and the road is still in situ, as is the bridge on the A1 Western By-pass, under which the line ran to the BRBritish Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
exchange sidings and the staithe. The staithe closed in 1960 but is still in existence, albeit minus its machinery. Some of the rolling stock has survived, with at least one hopper wagon marked NCB D/HAUGH residing on the Tanfield Railway
Tanfield Railway
The Tanfield Railway is a standard gauge heritage railway in Gateshead and County Durham, England. Running on part of a former colliery wooden wagonway, later a steam railway, it operates preserved steam and diesel industrial tank locomotives. The railway operates a passenger service on Sundays all...
, along with a Consett Iron Co. van which for many years served as part of Derwenthaugh MPD's breakdown train. The Kitson pannier tank was also rescued from the cutter's torch in 1972, and in 1986 was restored to its original identity as Consett Iron Co. "A" class No.5, and repainted in the maroon livery it carried when new. It is now a static exhibit at the Stephenson Railway Museum
Stephenson Railway Museum
The Stephenson Railway Museum is managed by Tyne and Wear Museums on behalf on North Tyneside Council, and is located at Middle Engine Lane in North Shields, England....
in North Shields
North Shields
North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...
. Not so lucky was No. 42, which was identical to No. 41, built to works No. 2510. This met the fate of most other British steam locomotives, and was cut up on-site in 1968. The railway line was originally constructed as the Garesfield & Chopwell Railway to serve collieries further up the valley, but terminated at Winlaton Mill by the time the works closed. The embankment on which the part of the line west of the works ran can be glimpsed from the road towards Rowlands Gill
Rowlands Gill
Rowlands Gill is a village situated along the A694, between Winlaton Mill and Blackhall Mill, on the north bank of the River Derwent, Tyne and Wear, England. With the coming of the Derwent Valley Railway in 1867, Rowlands Gill became both a coal mining village, and during the early part of the...
. The stone abutments of a bridge on this line can also be seen to the rear of the Golden Lion pub, and the style of construction (yellow pit-bricks and tall arched windows) of the house immediately adjacent to this pub indicates that it was probably not originally a house, but a structure associated with the mines and railways. After Derwenthaugh closed, Monkton
Monkton Coke Works
Monkton Coke Works was a coking plant near Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, England.-History:The works were constructed in 1936, as the government's response to the Jarrow Hunger March in 1932. The plant closed in 1990 and was demolished in 1992.-External links:...
near Hebburn was the only remaining coke works in the area, Lambton, Norwood and Hawthorn all having closed a couple of years previously (the latter was the newest works, built to process coal from the massive Hawthorn Combined Mine in 1961, but was mothballed during the 1984-85 miners' strike and never re-opened). The site of Norwood Coke Works became part of the 1990 Gateshead National Garden Festival
Gateshead Garden Festival
The Gateshead Garden Festival was the fourth of the United Kingdom's five National Garden Festivals. Held between May and October 1990, in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, it lasted 157 days, and received over three million visitors. Attractions included public art displays, a Ferris wheel, and dance,...
and is now home to the Festival Park housing estate. 1990 also saw the closure of Monkton, marking the end of coke production in the area. Today, the only coke ovens remaining in the north east of England are those which serve the blast furnace at Redcar
Redcar
Redcar is a seaside resort in the north east of England, and a major town in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. It lies east-northeast of Middlesbrough by the North Sea coast...
.