A view of the Malleable steel works on the banks of the River Tees.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
A view of the Malleable steel works on the banks of the River Tees.
The steelworks in question were Allan kennedy Ltd, later Lionweld Kennedy. I worked there in the 70s on the forge as a hammerdriver.
No, it does not showing the Malleable steelworks which are off to the right. The two derilict quays, which are still quite substantial, belong to the old shipyard.Just visible in the picture is the remains of the fence which separated the shipyard the Malleable territory.
The high bank at the right of the picture was the terminus of the historic North Shore Branch line, and somewhat obscured by the letter “C” in the picture may be the remains of the North Shore staithes. These would have been built in the middle 1830s, for loading coal, but this use of the North Shore branch was a failure.
As can be seen from the line of the fence the footpath which ran along the Malleable side of the fence, parallel to the railway, became very steep as it approached the river. The one thing which puzzels me is the height of the bank which seems far too high for loading ships. So I do wonder whether the footpath marked the original railway down to the staithes. Until a picture or drawing of the staithes in Victorian times emerge we won’t know. The large scale OS map of that part of Stockton from the 1870s does not seem to exist
Im not sure this is the Malleable steel works, as it appears too close to stockton center judging by the flats in the background. It doesnt look big enough either, the malleable was much further downstream.