Ballast Quay

Evidence for the construction of quays and docks in the area to the north of the Mill Dam inlet begins in the 17th century. There is a court record in 1670 of a ballast quay separated from the water mill by a bridge and apparently on or near the site of what became Cookson's Quay, just to the north of the Mill Dam inlet. In 1754 John Burdon was refused permission by Trinity House to build a ballast quay on the sands at the end end of South Shields. Two years later Isaac Cookson, who was a freeman of Newcastle, secured a site for a quay, presumably Cookson's Quay as shown on Wood's map.