James Liddle & John Sutcliff entered partnership in the early 1860s and commenced building on the north banks of the Wear by 1862. Little is known about the party, but it appears Sutcliff was actually born down at Danby Dale at Kirklees, Yorkshire. He was born in 1824 and was here by the 1850s as a carpenter. In 1861 he lived at the Briggs Buildings in Hylton, then in 1871 76 Ropery Row with his wife and children (his 13 year old son being his apprentice. This was still no opulent residence, so the operation will have remained modest throughout the decade.

The yard constructed over a dozen vessels for international goods movements by local merchants. The Silver Cloud, as noted by SearleCanada (https://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland068.html#liddle), was used for services from Britain to Ceylon and South America which only represents the sturdiness of these ships, even when built from small austere yards. This particular vessel was lost in 1874.

The yard was likely at the site labelled, though without more proof it could well have been at the Nab End side of Hylton. These were both sites where many local builders came together and effectively had a commune of yards, each with their own sawpits and cranes to work from and launch into the river.

Earthworks remain at this general site but there is no material trace of the yard, having closed in the early 1870s. Sutcliff ended up a grocer - he and his family went on to live at 36 Lester Road at Bishopwearmouth.