Derwenthaugh Staiths

This impressive wooden structure lies just west of the confluence of the Derwent and Tyne. One wonders just how much coal was shipped from here in the days when coal was king, and about the myriad places it was taken to. It finally closed in 1960. In the late Victorian era, staiths like this, and the massive one further down river at Dunston, enabled the direct loading of seagoing ships. This was following on from the work of the Tyne Improvement Commission. Prior to this, these locations were a hive of keelboat activity. The keelmen transported the coal on their shallow bottomed keelboats, taking it down river then manhandling it onto the big ships moored east of Newcastle. The improvements to river navigability, the construction of these staiths and the rapid growth of the railway network marked the end for the keelmen. They had plied their trade on the river for hundreds of years and created a legend in the process.
Music - Silverhill Days
www.rolyveitch.20m.com

[@CCJazzmen]

Great bit of local history, surprises me how wide it looks. It will no doubt still be standing there in a hundred years time,

[@BlaydonAces]

I suppose it could have supported a double railway track. Did you ever see the huge one at Dunston? If not have a look via Google. I've heard it's the biggest wooden structure in Europe.