Giant crane at former NEM Works
Giant crane at former NEM Works
HER Number
9291
District
N Tyneside
Site Name
Giant crane at former NEM Works
Place
Wallsend
Map Sheet
NZ36NW
Class
Transport
Site Type: Broad
Lifting and Winding Structure
Site Type: Specific
Cantilever Crane
General Period
20TH CENTURY
Specific Period
Early 20th Century 1901 to 1932
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
Giant cantilever crane, 1909, by Arrol and Stothert & Pitt for North Eastern Marine Engineering Company (HER 5017). Rivetted steel sections. A fixed crane tower, 125 ft high and forty square supports on balanced horizontal jib, 245 ft total length. The jib swings through 360 degrees and has a trolley with the lifting gear moving along the 150ft working section. Designed to lift loads of up to 150 tons with great precision for ship construction/repair. Only 42 of this type of crane were ever built, from 1905. This is the earliest example built in England and one of only two left on the Tyne. Complete with original machinery. Popularly known as a 'hammerhead crane'. See The Engineer August 20 1909, pp 187-9. Was listed grade 2* but now gone.
Easting
431220
Northing
566170
Grid Reference
NZ431220566170
Sources
Department of Culture Media and Sport, List of Buildings of Special Architectural and Historic Interest, 7/182; Archaeological Services Durham University, 2012, Hadrian Riverside, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear - archaeological assessment; Historic England Advice Report, 7 June 2017