One silver lining of Sunderland lacking any modern development on most of its riverside is that there’s a lot of old industry sat dormant, as expressed in earlier posts.

This is probably the biggest remnant of the lot - the huge lime kiln complex at the bottom of Southwick. This was once called the Carley Lime Works.

The structure is a patchwork of 18th and 19th century sandstone, limestone, brick and coursed stone. Emblematic of the quickly intensifying industrial demand through this period. The earliest are those on the left.

Limestone was brought down the Carley Hill Waggonway from the huge quarries near Fulwell. Here the stone and coal would be burned to make quicklime, which was used in all sorts of industries from construction to iron production. Much of this land was owned by the Dean & Chapter of Durham, who found this a profitable venture and leased the areas out for profit.

This was one of a number of lime works on the Wear. There was another at Sheepfolds Lime Works close to Wearmouth Bridge, which is shown in historic illustrations of 19th century Sunderland. In Southwick, there were limekilns around a few hundred metres upstream, which had its own lime waggonway at the west of the village green. This is shown on the 1839 tithe plan, and had totally vanished by the 1850s making it a rare and valuable insight.

Interestingly, the arch on the upper level of the stonework may have been a chute from the railway to the river. Aerial photographs from 1946, inc. the one below, shows a conveyor belt-like structure from the top of the bank all the way down. Could this have been a waste chute, or a drop to ships?