{"id":10,"date":"2008-09-08T20:47:37","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T19:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smlp.co.uk\/blog\/?p=10"},"modified":"2008-09-08T20:47:37","modified_gmt":"2008-09-08T19:47:37","slug":"ncl-photo-walk-the-calder-leadworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smlp.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/09\/ncl-photo-walk-the-calder-leadworks\/","title":{"rendered":"NCL Photo Walk – The Calder Leadworks."},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the day after the worst flooding in Morpeth since 1963<\/a>, heavy rain falling all across the north east, massive train delay in and out of Newcastle and I didn\u2019t bother to bring any decent water proof clothing!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The fourth Newcastle Photo Walk<\/a> went ahead yesterday and it was a wonder off to wasteland next to Newcastle Metro Arena to find a derelict building.\u00a0 I found out about the building from Flickr user Arron Cupid<\/a>.\u00a0 The waste land the building sits on was the site of Calder Industrial Materials<\/a>, a lead manufacturer.\u00a0 The site shut down in 2002 and since I don\u2019t remember it even being their I thought I would have a quick look and see what I could find out about it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My first find was from the boys and girls over at http:\/\/www.northeasturbex.co.uk\/<\/a> they have been spending\"\"<\/a> a little time at the derelict building which used to be an on-site medical infirmary for the Lead Works.\u00a0 They had found an interesting part of the building that we missed on our walk.\u00a0 An old spiral staircase leading underground.\u00a0 If your into this kind of thing I would recommend having a look over their site; some interesting stuff they have found.<\/p>\n

The most interesting bit of information I found on http:\/\/www.northeasturbex.co.uk\/ was from Shepy (Check out his Blog<\/a>) Not sure where he found it but he managed to come up with a historical brake down on the site.\u00a0 This is what the site used to look like before it was flattened in 2004:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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1778 <\/strong>– Site opened with 2 acres.<\/p>\n

1785 <\/strong>– Takes in 2 more fields and expands to 15 acres.<\/p>\n

1797 <\/strong>– Shot tower constructed and opened, stood 174ft tall. The tower leant to one side and was righted by digging soil away from the opposite side and letting gravity do its thing until it was perpendicular again. It was visible two miles out of Chester-Le-Street, which is 7 miles south of Newcastle so must have loomed high above the skyline of the city then.<\/p>\n

1802 <\/strong>– Start of work to rebuild site almost entirely.<\/p>\n

1827 <\/strong>– Rebuild completed, shot tower and workers cottages only original buildings left.<\/p>\n

1951 <\/strong>– Shot production ceased and the tower was closed, and promptly listed as a historic building.<\/p>\n

1969 <\/strong>– Shot tower demolished due to safety concerns as it had started leaning again.<\/p>\n

2002 <\/strong>– Site closed entirely by its last owners \u2018Calder Industrial Materials\u2019.<\/p>\n

2004 <\/strong>– Site flattened by owners ready for a planning permission attempt by Bellway homes.<\/p>\n

2006 <\/strong>– Planning permission denied for a number of reasons, including:<\/p>\n