This gloomy photograph shows the shoreline at Pipewellgate in Gateshead, the photographer and date are unknown. The other photo was taken in 2024 for comparison.
The area pictured is between the Swing Bridge and the High Level Bridge, both of which are just out of shot on either side of the photos, although Pipewellgate extended further west than this. The older photo was taken from the wooden pier of the Swing Bridge some time in the 1890s, which isn’t possible today because the structure is unsafe. The pier runs across the middle of the recent photo.
Pipewellgate is one of the oldest parts of Gateshead, its name referring to wooden pipes that transported water from a well there. The mediaeval Tyne Bridge was on the spot currently occupied by the Swing Bridge, so this became a busy approach to Newcastle and a desirable place to live and conduct business. The Gategang family settled there around 1300, and a document from 1348 describes Alan Gategang as ‘Lord of Pipewellgate’.
The area remained the home of the town’s wealthier families until the 18th century, when it changed beyond recognition. Pipewellgate had an abundance of water from the river and limitless coal from collieries nearby, making it the perfect spot for heavy industry. A large iron works was established, where Richard Trevithick built the third ever locomotive engine in the world, in 1805.
The buildings in the old photo were a mix of factories, warehouses and tenement housing. They survived the Great Fire of 1854, which devastated the area to the east of the Swing Bridge, but their days were numbered by the time the photographer paid a visit. The derelict-looking wreck in the middle was the rear of the Fountain Inn, it was actually still trading when the older photo was taken. The pub was demolished along with most of its neighbours when a new quay was built on the Gateshead shore in 1910.
The new quay provided quick and easy access to the river, although nowhere near as quick and easy as the access that had been provided by the Fountain Inn. It had a door at the back so that goods could be hauled up from boats on the river. Many a bevvied-up customer mistook this for the pub’s exit, and plunged twenty feet onto the muddy shore of the River Tyne.