Whale Fishery Company, Saltmeadows

HER Number

15925

District

Gateshead

Site Name

Whale Fishery Company, Saltmeadows

Place

Gateshead

Map Sheet

NZ26SE

Class

Industrial

Site Type: Broad

Animal Product Site

Site Type: Specific

Whaling Station

General Period

POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Hanoverian 1714 to 1837

Form of Evidence

Documentary Evidence

Description

First whale factory in the north-east for the Newcastle Whale Fishery Company on land leased from Newcastle Corporation. June 1752 to 1831. The site was later leased by soap and alkali manufacturers Thomas Doubleday and Anthony Easterby in 1812. Whale oil was stored in lead-lined tanks after being prepared. One such site was excavated at Rotherhithe in London.

Easting

426763

Northing

563546

Grid Reference

NZ426763563546

Sources

Tony Barrow, 2001, The Whaling Trade of North-east England 1750-1850, pp 67-68; Minutes of the Newcastle Common Council, March 1828 and September 1831 (Tyne and Wear Archives)