Archaeology Background

This is a collection from archaeological reports covering West Allotment and the nearby area. A lot is sourced from the excellent Historic England website and datebase.  The articles are just snippets, well worth visiting the source website if you want to know more on any specific topic.   Heritagegateway

The boundaries and routes of these features have been placed in the approximate location on a modern map, if you want more precise locations refer to the source documents, but be aware that information is from old air photographs and past Archaeology studies, so they  will never be 100% accurate.  Modern Archaeology uses digital mapping and GPS.

Aircraft Obstructions (ASDA Car Park Now)

The Holyfields Estate Waggonway (Name for this website only)

A Waggonway branched off what we know call the Seaton Burn Waggonway, which runs down the south side of Murrayfields and the Terraces on it’s way to the staithes on the Tyne. The branch came off as a spur in the field beside the Holystone Inn, which also had a steam powered rope haulage engine in the same location.

The waggonway seems to have ran across what is now the A19 interchange, then across Holyfields estate, maybe linking into the Backworth Colliery line?

William Pit

Plot of land next to the Holystone Inn, with a footpath leading to Holystone Farm.  A small reservoir is depicted on the OS map of 1898 but not the 1865 edition. It is visible as an earthwork with a mound of spoil along its eastern edge on air photos taken in the late 1940s. This feature is located to the east of Holystone Farm and close to the Seatonburn Wagonway and Newcastle Tynemouth and Newcastle railway.  A coal mine named as ‘William Pit’ is recorded at this location, but this pit is not recorded on the late 19th century OS maps (see Tyne & Wear HER 15455). This feature has been levelled and appears as an soilmarks on air photos taken in 1990

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : Air photos taken on two occasions in 1958 show a broad and diffuse dark soilmark indicating the general alignment of a possible wagonway and some short sections of sharply defined ditch that might be the remains of the track bed.a has now been built over.

More information : Air photos taken on two occasions in 1958 show a broad and diffuse dark soilmark indicating the general alignment of a possible wagonway and some short sections of sharply defined ditch that might be the remains of the track bed. This feature can be traced from Prospect Hill to what was the Whitley Road (now the the Holystone Interchange). The early 19th century William Pit (see Tyne & Wear HER 15455) stood on the other side of the Whitley Road and may have been the destination of this wagonway. This area has now been built over. © Historic England & Google Maps.

Terraced Houses in Turner Street (The street came long after the houses)

Summary : A row of terrace houses is visible as standing structures on air photos taken in 1947.

More information : A row of terrace houses is visible as standing structures on air photos taken in 1947. This is the terrace depicted on the OS map of 1898, but not the 1865 edition. At the end of the 19th century it stood alone but by the 1940s several other rows had been built at West Allotment. The original terrace row had been replaced by link-detached house in a similar alignment by the end of the 20th century. © Historic England & Google Maps.

(JW) The original houses consisted of an upper and lower flat, the only doors were into the backlane, the upper flats having stone steps in the backyard. The land that we now consider the front street was in the private ownership of the Duke of Northumberland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The image below shows typical North East terraced flats of that time, The houses in West Allotment had allotment gardens on the other side of the back lane. The present allotments run in strips away from the houses, could these be the original gardens for these houses?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone has photos of West Allotment please share, contact via Admin link.

 

 

 

 

West Allotment – Possible ancient enclosure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing left to see on this one, it would have been destroyed when Tynemouth Borough Council made use of the area south of West Allotment as the Borough municiple waste dump. Still interesting to know we live in an area with so many links to past use.

Summary : Air photos taken in April and December 1958 show the cropmarks of what appears to be a substantial rectilinear enclosure.

More information : Air photos taken in April and December 1958 show the cropmarks of what appears to be a substantial rectilinear enclosure. This features was located in a field flanking the Seatonburn Wagonway and the north-eastern corner of the putative enclosure appears to be truncated by the wagonway. The cropmark suggests an enclosure measuring 95x80m but it not certain that this feature is of archaeological origin. This site has now been built over and was located close to Quick Silver Way. © Historic England & Google Maps.

Seaton Burn Waggonway Spur (2)

A possible spur off the Seaton Burn Waggonway, it seems to branch off at the end of Backworth Terrace and ran down to a small pit, located in what is not the latest housing development at Holystone. Nothing remains, given the area is covered in the spoil, dug out from the creation of th first Tyne Road Tunnel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary: A low embankment is visible as an earthwork on historical air photos. It curves southwards from the Seatonburn Wagonway.

More information :  A low embankment is visible as an earthwork on historical air photos. It curves southwards from the Seatonburn Wagonway. More recent air photos indicate that this feature has now been levelled.  (Buried JW) © Historic England & Google Maps.

Prospect Hill Quarry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : A quarry is depicted on Prospect Hill on the OS map of 1865.

More information : A quarry is depicted on Prospect Hill on the OS map of 1865. Low earthwork remains of this quarry are visible on historical air photos but more recent air photos show that the site has now been redeveloped. © Historic England & Google Maps.

Prospect Hill Farmstead

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : The farm depicted on the OS map of 1865 on Prospect Hill was still extant and working on air photos taken in the late 1940s.

More information : The farm depicted on the OS map of 1865 on Prospect Hill was still extant and working on air photos taken in the late 1940s. By 2001 it had been completely demolished and the land on which it stood was under cultivation. The site was revealed as pale tone cropmarks on 2002 air photos but has now been built over. © Historic England & Google Maps

Ridge & Furrow (Ploughing) (1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : A block of post medieval ridge and furrow is visible as earthworks on historical air photos.

More information : A block of post medieval ridge and furrow is visible as earthworks on historical air photos. These remains are located south-east of the Holystone Interchange. More recent images indicate that these remains have now been levelled and some have been built over. © Historic England & Google Maps

Shiremoor Colliery – Spoil Heap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : Shiremore Colliery is depicted on the OS map of 1898, but not the 1865 edition.

More information : Shiremoor Colliery is depicted on the OS map of 1898, but not the 1865 edition. The outline of the colliery was still visible on air photos taken in the late 1940s, as was a spoil heap along its western boundary. However many of the structures show on the historical OS map had been removed. This site has now been redeveloped. © Historic England & Google Maps

Holystone – William Pit Spoil Heap and a rope haulage engine on the Seaton Burn Waggonway, plus a small reservoir

The reservoir would have been the water supply for the steam driven waggon haulage engine, a common feature on all the highpoints in the local terrain that the waggonways had to pass over. Hillheads, Shiremoor Engine (Allotment), Allotment Engine, Middle Engine Lane and Prospect Hill being a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : A small reservoir is depicted on the OS map of 1898 an is visible as earthworks on air photos taken in the late 1940s.

More information : A small reservoir is depicted on the OS map of 1898 but not the 1865 edition. It is visible as an earthwork with a mound of spoil along its eastern edge on air photos taken in the late 1940s. This feature is located to the east of Holystone Farm and close to the Seatonburn Wagonway and Newcastle Tynemouth and Newcastle railway.  A coal mine named as ‘William Pit’ is recorded at this location, but this pit is not recorded on the late 19th century OS maps (see Tyne & Wear HER 15455). This feature has been levelled and appears as an soilmarks on air photos taken in 1990. © Historic England & Google Maps

Practice Military Trench System WW2 Era

Practice Trenches WW 2

 

This seems plausible given the location, next to the Coast railine and the Backworth Colliery Line. Home Guard? (JW)

Summary : Air photos taken in 1948 show two sections of zig zig trenches on grassland between Station Road and Earsdon Road.

More information : Air photos taken in 1948 show two sections of zig zig trenches on grassland between Station Road and Earsdon Road. One of these trenches was cut into a spread of spoil associated with the neighbouring railway cutting. These trenches are likely to have been dug for practice in the Second World War. This area has now been developed as Northumberland Park Retail Outlet & Sainsburys. © Historic England & Google Maps

Murton Village (Aerial Photo Source)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : The OS map of 1865 shows the small village of Murton, comprising farm complexes on either side of a narrow green.

More information : The OS map of 1865 shows the small village of Murton, comprising farm complexes on either side of a narrow green. These are named as Low Farm and High Farm on the 1898 edition. Both have horse gins. The village’s one road runs south-west to north-east through the green linking Well Lane (leading to Monkseaton) and Murton Lane (leading to New York).  At that time much of the land behind the houses and High Farm  was divided into parallel crofts that ran perpendicular to the green. The land to the north of Low Farm was open at that time.  The outline of the green was further marked out by several short terrace rows, one of which is labelled as Murton Square.

Air photos taken in the late 1940s indicate that most of the terraces  had been removed by that date but the two farms and some other buildings remained. A new row of semi-detached houses had been added at the north-west end of the village. At this time the village was contained within a near-rectangular area of land which was flanked on all sides by farmland, some of which still contained  ridge and furrow earthworks. The land to the north of Low Farm contained a series of parallel earthwork, likely to be the remains of croft boundaries that had been removed before the end of the 19th century. These may have medieval origins.

Recent air photos show that Murton retains the same basic footprint as it had in the late 19th century. However very few if any of the buildings shown on maps of that time appear to survive. The road position is the same but the green that flanked it on either side has been divided into front gardens for the new houses. The crofts depicted on the historical OS maps have been built over but some of the earthworks identified on the 1940s air photos still survive in the northern corner of the village. © Historic England & Google Maps

Pits  – South of the large roundabout on Middle Engine Lane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary : A group of three mine shafts of probable Post Medieval or Modern date were seen as earthworks on air photographs and mapped from the photographs. These features have since been destroyed by modern building development

More information : Seen as earthworks on air photographs centred at NZ 3216 6903, and mapped from the photographs. © Historic England & Google Maps

Holystone – Potential  Pit (2)

Red Circle –

Summary : Air photos taken in 1948 show low earthworks at the site of this possible former coal mine.

More information : Air photos taken in 1948 show low earthworks at the site of this possible former coal mine. They comprise a near-square hollow, possibly a reservoir, a coal shaft or pit with ring of spoil around it, a drainage ditch and an area of indistinct disturbance. Some of these features are depicted on the OS map of 1865. More recent air photos indicate that these remains have now been built over. © Historic England & Google Maps

Blue Circle –

Summary : Air photos taken in 1948 show low earthworks at the site of this possible former coal mine.

More information : Air photos taken in 1948 show low earthworks at the site of this possible former coal mine. They comprise a near-square hollow, possibly a reservoir, a coal shaft or pit with ring of spoil around it, a drainage ditch and an area of indistinct disturbance. Some of these features are depicted on the OS map of 1865. More recent air photos indicate that these remains have now been built over. © Historic England & Google Maps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benton Square – Possible WW2 Bomb Craters

Summary : Two small  hollows are visible as earthworks on historical air photos. One is likely to be a Second World War bomb crater, the other may be a similar crater or a post medieval pond.

More information : Two small hollows are visible as earthworks on historical air photos. One is located on garden or allotment plots around the small coal village of Benton Square. This example is likely to be a Second World War bomb crater.  The other lay in what is now  the Forest Gate area, it may a similar crater or a post medieval pond. Both features have now been built over. NZ2959470115 © Historic England & Google Maps

(JW) – Two possible scenarios if these are bomb craters.

(1)    There was a Starfish site on Scaffold Hill during WW2, a set of eleborate decoys to misguide German bombers off course and persuade them to drop the bombs on fileds, instead of the shipyards and heavy industry.  A national intiative, ranging from complete copies of a town, with fires, machines to produce sparks as locatovies etc, Hull being a good example, sited just further up the Humber estuary. It is likely that Scaffold Hill was just fires, still a temptation for bomber crews being hoodwinked into thinking earlier bombers had identified the correct target.

(2) Just to the South West at the junction of Station Road and Whitley Road there was a WW2 Heavy Artillary Anti-Aircraft gun site, could this have been the target, if the full string of bombs had been dropped slightly later they would have straddled the AA Gun site.

Summary : A Heavy Anti Aircraft battery of the Second World War period was seen and mapped from air photographs. It had mounted four 4.5-inch guns with GL Mark IA radar in 1942, and was upgunned to six 3.7-inch Mark IIC guns with GL Mark II and Mark IIIB radar in 1945. It had been manned by 269 Battery of the 63rd Royal Artillery Regiment in 1940. It was retained as an Off-Site Nucleus Force Battery in 1946. The anti-aircraft battery which lay to the east of Benton, consisted of six gun-emplacements, with a command post and a magazine. A radar station lay immediately south of the command post, and ranges of associated buildings to the west. More recent photography suggests that the earthworks have since been levelled and the associated buildings demolished. © Historic England & Google Maps

More information : A Heavy Anti Aircraft battery of the Second World War period was seen and mapped from air photographs. The anti aircraft battery which lay to the east of Benton at NZ 2934 6919, consisted of six gun-emplacements, with a command post and a magazine. A radar station lay immediately south of the command post, and ranges of associated buildings to the west. More recent photography suggests that the earthworks have since been levelled and the associated buildings demolished. © Historic England & Google Maps

(JW) I remember playing around the AA site in the late 1960’s, the gun emplacements and a lot of the concrete structures still existed. What was amazing to a youngster was all of the black painted enemy aircraft silhouettes on the gun emplacement concrete walls.

LIDAR (Laser) Imaging of West Allotment Area

A few features highlighted. Crop marks and evidence of the many waggonways that served the local pits. The main waggonway running at the back of West Allotment (now a footpath) served pits as far away as Seaton Burn and Brunton. This ran through Hill Heads, a steam haulage engine was sited there to pull the waggons up th incline.