Club Walk No 13, Dunston Staiths & River Tyne - Sunday 23rd August 2015.

      

On Sunday 23rd August 2015, the final walk on this seasons summer programme saw camera club members visit
the historic Dunston Staiths followed by a walk along the south bank of the River Tyne.
Built by the North Eastern Railway Company and opened in 1893, the Staiths was constructed with North American
Pitch Pine and is believed to be the largest timber structure in Europe. Most of the wood is in lengths sixty six feet
long, thirteen inches deep and thirteen inches wide. The purpose of the Staiths was to load coal from the Durham
coalfields onto ships on the River Tyne for export all over the world.
Steam engines would shunt the hopper wagons loaded with coal along the top of the one thousand seven hundred
and twenty five foot structure to the six loading berths. Each berth was fitted with two gravity spouts and three
conveyor belts, and once in position the coal was emptied down the chutes into the holds of the waiting ships below.
These berths are under the metal gantries that can be seen on the Staiths today painted blue. Occasionally Fluorspar
and Pitch were also loaded but the last shipment of coal left the Staiths in 1979 and the facility closed in 1980.
Now owned by the Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust, the first part of an ambitious plan to restore this iconic
landmark has been completed and this enabled us to walk along the lower structure before climbing the sixty six
feet up onto the top deck. On a warm day with bright sunshine there was still a stiff breeze on top of the Staiths and
the views along the river in both directions were worth the visit. By this time the tide had also receded leaving the
Staiths Basin as a haven for wildlife feeding in the mud and silt.

      

Leaving the Staiths our route took us past South Bank housing development designed by Wayne Hemmingway, to the
delightful Staiths Cafe for a brief interlude. Suitably refreshed we continued walking east and followed the riverside
footpath to the High Level Bridge before returning to our starting point.
A very pleasant afternoon walk with different aspects to photograph and a good finale to the Summer Programme.
Thank you to those who attended and to everyone who has supported the thirteen club walks and visits to places of
local interest over the summer break.

Davy Bolam.