This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the railways, in our very own North East of England, through the ingenuity of great engineers such as George Stephenson from Wylam and Timothy Hackworth from Shildon.
And what better way to celebrate the bicentenary than with a trip to the historic Dunston Staiths in Gateshead and then onto the excellent mining Art Museum in Bishop Auckland.
Dunston Staiths
Dunston Staiths is an absolute gem of our Northumbrian heritage, being a site of genuinely world historical value. It is great to see that it is now open again, even if it is only usually on the first Saturday of the month. It is a start, and we can only hope that funding can be found to facilitate more openings in the future.
The Staiths really does make for an interesting and educational excursion, which is suitable for all the family, although young children would have to be kept under strict supervision.
That said, the Staiths is an impressive site, with a long sweep of wood and metal, reaching out into the Tyne like a man-made spit. It was very pleasant to walk along the top of the Staiths, with great views downstream to the Redheugh Bridge and upstream towards the Scotswood Bridge.
Some background
Dunston Staiths was built in 1893, and was used for loading coal from the Durham pits. It was built by the NE Railway Company to meet the growing demand for coal for export. It was seen as more efficient to bring the coal to Dunston and load it onto ships there than to take it to the docks at the mouth of the River Tyne.
Dunston Staiths is the last surviving example of what were once many huge wooden jetties that lined the River Tyne in the 19th century. Coal would be brought along the many wagonways from County Durham mines unloaded on the ships, which needed safe moorings to load and unload goods.
Indeed, it was not only coal that was loaded and unloaded at the states but as part of the same complex that was the site of the old Cooperative Wholesale Society Flour Mill, which had its own jetty for ships, bringing grain all the way from Canada and which would then be distributed to cooperative throughout the North East.
Dunston Staiths is now being looked after for the local community and for the nation and acts as a reminder of the North East’s incredible industrial heritage.
Funding
A spokesperson at the Staiths told me that there will be a fundraiser, so that the original sleepers can be sold and people can then own a bit of history. It was said to be going live in a week or two. It was the wagonways in County Durham, leading to the Tyne, for the keel boats to collect the coal, that first sparked the development of the world’s first railway line forty miles to the south from Stockton to Darlington.
The site deserves more funding and could indeed be a UNESCO world heritage site, perhaps along with the nearby Causey Arch, the first railway bridge in the world from 1725, albeit for wagons not trains, exactly a century before the opening of the first steam railway in the world.
Speaking of which…
Fuelling the Railway Revolution
Having thoroughly enjoyed the historic site of Dunston Staiths, I then went on to the excellent Mining Art Museum in Bishop Auckland, to see an exhibition of tremendous artwork entitled Fuelling the Railway Revolution, which has been specially curated to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton to Darlington railway this year.
It was noted at the exhibition that the first form of railways to arrive in England came in the late 1500s, introduced by metal miners from Austria and Germany, with tubs that run on wooden tracks. Before long, in the 16th century these were developed into overground railways with waggons pulled at the time by horses.
Meanwhile, in the 18th century, as coal became the major source of energy for the country, steam engines began to be developed with a view to transporting coal from mines to places where they could be taken around the world. One of those places of course would be Dunston and the River Tyne.
The first steam engine was actually produced in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen, who was born in Devon and it was in the Cornish tin mines that steam engines first began to be used, along with the coal mines of the North East.
The Cornish/ North East connection continued with the development of the first steam train by Richard Trevithick and then its adaptation by Wylam born George Stephenson. Stephenson was also an excellent railway engineer, who was able to oversee the establishment of the world’s first steam railway from Stockton to Darlington.
While the impetus for these early railways was undoubtedly the transport of coal for coal owners to make profits, it was soon realised that the Stockton to Darlington railway could also take passengers and other goods as well as coal and so became the first passenger railway line in the world. It was followed five years later by another Stephenson inspired project, the Liverpool to Manchester railway in 1830.
The exhibition Fuelling the Railway Revolution demonstrates the connection between the railways under coal mining industry through a mix of paintings representing both modern and older scenes, dating back to the early years of the railways.
The artwork includes a lot of technical detail and brings home to those viewing it, the close connection between the mining industry and the railways which is rightly made clear.
The paintings include a beautiful representation of a pit head with horse-drawn wagons, representing a time before the steam railways were established, but after the arrival of the Newcomen steam engine to North East mines.
Another painting shows the ‘A’ pit at Backworth in what was then Northumberland, with railway lines shown going in and out of the pit head.
Among the many other pieces of art there is also a piece by John E. Wigston, painted as recently as 2019, recreating a scene outside Timothy Hackworth’s house in Shildon and which shows the way that North East artists continue to be inspired by the revolutionary time when the railways were first developed, here in the North East.
Comment
Dunston Staiths is well worth a visit, both for its historical significance and the impressive sight that it presents to the visitor. Please see below for details of when it is open.
Meanwhile, Fuelling the Railway Revolution is a beautifully curated exhibition, which respectfully marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington railway and the close links between that railway and the coal industry.
The museum itself has many other great pieces of artwork especially from pitman painters such as Norman Cornish and Tom McGuinsnes, which are well worth seeing as well.
For details of when you can visit Dunston Staiths please see here.
Fuelling the railway Revolution is open until 28 December at the Mining Art Museum in Bishop Auckland. More details about the exhibition, opening times of the museum and prices can be found here.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
