Robert Stephenson's Engine Works

Robert Stephenson's Engineering works, one of the most important 19th century industrial buildings in the world. It was designed and built by Stephenson and was working by 1837. The design was strongly influenced by greenhouse design and included many features which were innovative in an industrial building of the time. The central pitch of the roof was glass, with its supporting cast iron pillars also functioning as downpipes to take away rain water. The entire west wall was glass, supported by seven brick pillars. There was also a two storey office building, built circa 1820-40, with an unusual stone staircase, of a type commonly found in Edinburgh {1}.The Stephenson Quarter comprises: A1 original office (listed building 10034) 1823-1827, A2 a dog-leg yard 1827, A3 an open yard 1823, later a forge and carpenter's shop later a fitting and turning shop 1859, A4 a yard 1823, later a warehouse (engine wrights fitting up shop) with pattern maker's shop above 1837, A5 part of the original 1823 buildings, 1837-8 a boring mill, 1847-8 a lathe shop with a stationary engine, A6 a yard and blacksmith's shop 1837-8, wheelsmiths shop in 1896, A7 a yard, 1837 a coppersmith's shop, 1896 a plumber's shop, A8 an open yard, 1859 engine house, A9 coppersmith's shop, A10 smith's shop, A11 fitting shop 1867, locomotive erecting shop 1896, machine and fitting shops on upper floors, A12 frame shop, tender shop and saw mill 1846-1850, A13 frame shop 1847, A14 warehouse, A15 square chimney base/furnace 1838, A16 smith's shops 1830s, A17 warehouse extension, oil engine showroom 1859-1894 with paint room above, A19 yard 1830s with railway lines, turntables and wheelpits, B1 20 South Street 1847-1859, B2 boiler shop 1838- 1845 {ref. numbers taken from PLB report of 2001}. The Rocket was built here. The firm also built the first locomotive (Locomotion) for the worlds first public railway - The stockton and Darlington Line 1825. Works moved to Darlington in 1902 but returned to Newcastle in 1937 when they took over Hawthorn Leslies loco division and became Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd.

Archaeological excavations in 2017 recorded the Smith's Shops or Workshops of Stephenson's Engine Works (OS map of 1862) and the High Smithy (OS map of 1896). The remains included substantial walls, column bases, brick floors, a culvert and a complicated multi-phase system of brick flues, which probably carried waste gases from ovens or furnaces to external vents. The flue system is shown on Goad's Fire Insurance Plan of 1896.

Excavations by the Archaeological Practice in August 2017 recorded a locomotive turntable base (HER 17589), a brick-lined stone-capped culvert, a railway line running south-east to north-west with four rails representing part of a set of points, set on wooden sleepers, and a 10m length of railway line for a travelling crane, with iron rails and wooden sleepers.

20 South Street is the only complete building still standing from the works and is LISTED GRADE 2