Down by the River...



Macho said:
Walked down the other side last week on the path from liebher (spelling) and i felt quite uncomfortable.
Click to expand...
Yes the footpaths that lead down to the river from up where B&Q is, are littered with empty beer cans, cider and spirit bottles etc and it's probably not somewhere I would go on an evening. Shame as it's a nice walk along there.
 
You can see what used to be there from old maps:
View: Durham VIII.SW (includes: Hylton; Sunderland.) - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952

This one shows Hetton Staiths, Lambton Drops, Wearmouth Drops. There are more in the Hudson Dock (next map to the east).

Each mining company had its own private railways and coal staithes to get the coal out. This lead to lots of coal staithes and lots of railway lines.
The Hetton railway runs right through Silksworth colliery but Silksworth had to build its own line through Ryhope to get the coal out.

Looks like the footpath you were on led from the pit to the stables. It was for getting horses in and out, not coal.
 
I like walking the dog along there apart from the broken glass. There are quite a few plaques and suchlike explaining what things are. My grandchildren (who have never seen a coal fire) find it fascinating. We also saw a seal in the river on one walk last year which added to the attractions.
 
Definitely needs sorting out, because it could be a cracking place. Hopefully should start to happen with the Vaux site. They should definitely do more events on the Uni side of the river, was a cracking location when we've had a mooch around during the tall ships.
 

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