Reports

South Tyneside Meeting - November 2002 "Tyne Dock" by Harry Fitzsimmons A Report by Margaret Stafford

An interesting slide show tonight from Harry Fitzsimmons who took us on a walk along Commercial rd and around Tyne Dock - not an easy one to write up but I'll try and give you a flavour which may stir some memories.

Commercial Rd was the centre of trade and industry, Tyne Dock opened in 1859 after the 50 acres was dug out by hand and at one point one third of all timber being imported into the UK was coming in through Tyne Dock. George Stephenson, the son of the railway pioneer, made the dock gates. William Armstrong made the engines to open the gates and they were still in use until about 15 years ago.

There was a slide of the bridge created for Sir James Redhead's personal use to get in and out of the works, the story being it was forbidden for anyone else to use it on pain of being sacked, and the rush to be the first in there after he left the works!

Harry took us on a visual tour of some of the landmarks and businesses. Many of the pubs were better known by their nicknames eg The Dock Hotel run by the wholesaler John Kennedy became "Kennedy's".

There was the Eskimo slipper and sandal factory. Robson's boatyard alone had 3 facilities, now there is only 1 boat builder left, William Young's transport business, the Cookson's Arms. Harry recounted Saturday pay day, also known as the clean apron day, with the kids trying to ensure they got their pocket money before their fathers made it to the Cookson's Arms!

Further down was the cocoa bar - the temperance bar. Edward's dock was owned by the man who later opened Middle Dock. Edward Moore's glass factory building survived until 1967. It was once one of the biggest glass producers in the UK and mass produced glass making it more available though it didn't survive the First World war. At one point there were 6 large glass manufacturers in Shields. Cookson's glass works were the first to roll glass to make sheets used in windows in the late 1880s making them available to more people. The founder's son however seemed to let the success go to his head - he awarded himself a salary of £54,000 in 1862, went off to live at Matfen Hall and the company later failed.

There was a railway under Commercial road to carry the coal in chauldrons (see survivors at Beamish museum). They carried 5¾ tons and men were paid by the ton so in effect loaded ¾ ton for nothing.

There were shipping butchers specialising in livestock for the voyage pre refrigeration days. In 1914 there were 129 butchers in South Shields with ¼ being shipping butchers. Typical provisions for a voyage would include 60 tons of potatoes, 30 tons of beef, 180 sides of bacon, 8 cases of tongue (each case containing 1 gross), 8 cases of kidneys, 720 dozen eggs, 36 whole hams, 30 cheeses - in case that was all too rich the final ingredient was 12 cwt of prunes!

William Black's foundry produced a wonderfully evocative shot from the turn of the last century with the foundrymen in their white mole-skins.

We were surprised to see how relatively up-market Laygate was in the 1880s. Frederick St in the 1890s was largely residential with substantial houses and gardens to the front and rear. Harry reminded us that ¾ of South Shields was built between 1895-1905. Tyne Dock went from 500-15,000 families. There were 3 distinct towns - Shields (the hilltoppers), High Shields and Tyne Dock, each a separate community with shops, cinema etc.

Returning to Commercial rd the Arkwright (open all hours) of his day was Mattie Todd. One story was that during the war word went round that Mattie had tabs in stock - off went the men and the Senior Service disappeared quickly, only for the buyers to discover they were salvage and full of sea water, a fact of which Mattie had been entirely unaware of course!! His paraffin was said to be the anti-biotic of the poor.

There was a slide of the Wagon Inn which closed in 1918 after a fight led to its licence being withdrawn. It was empty until 1934 untouched by graffiti artists or vandals, something unlikely to be repeated today. Then came Trinity church, Cornwallis Square, the steep hills largely the result of the ballast from the ships, with 3 storey houses from the front turning into cottages to the rear.

There was a slide of the entwined dolphin fountains on Rekendyke road which provoked some discussion about when they disappeared and what about those horse troughs!

High Shields station was at the back of Trinity Church, near the mosque. Then came the West End Vaults, recently burnt down. There was a wonderful shot of the houses at the end of the street looking very unsafe where carelessly driven carts had knocked the corners off the bricks so stones, bollards, even cannons, were placed to protect the buildings.

1 slide showed 11 people in 1 room with the table, range and washing hanging up and provoked much concern about privacy and stress. Harry reminded us that as late as 1962 ¾ of the houses in Shields had no bath.

Then onto Smith and Co iron foundry, Carmichael Bros foundry, Duncan's offices and warehouse, the Rose and Crown, the Cumberland Arms.

Over to Middle Dock and the tail end squad perched precariously on ladders and platforms removing the ship's propeller. The whaling trade meant almost every child had a carved whale tooth penguin (anyone still got theirs?!).

Percy's shop with the foul-mouth parrot (no shot of him I'm afraid!), another one of the Yemeni Arabs at Mill Dam, then Peterson's store, run by a Lithuanian who never mastered the English language, he would use his bulk to challenge for provisions, fighting off competitors literally. Slides followed of the Scandinavian seaman's' lodging house by the Mill Dam, the seaman's exchange, the Deutsche seaman's church and meeting hall then the Stonequay boiler works with a staff picture from 1903.

For those of us who aren't native we could have done with a map next to the screen to follow and try and work out the comparisons with modern day Shields. The domination of industry, the consequent growth of the population, the whole cosmopolitan feel of the area gave us a lot to think about when we consider the times our ancestors lived through.

My one disappointment - no picture of Percy's foul-mouthed parrot!