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Five Wide views of Palmers Works & also bombing locations.

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Palmers Works1900 view of Palmers Shipyards (part of a view of Palmers Works). Sources: Drawing b/i), numbered labels b/ii) .

The following higher resolution view below b/i) is of a section of the above 1900 artist's view and includes the shipbuilding yard and engine works departments of Palmers works. The detailed labels are derived from the Institution of Naval Architects 1887 plan b/ii). The appearance of this area is relatively unchanged in the 13 years between both of these views, even though several of the sheds seem larger. It was felt that the 1887 labels could be generally applied to the 1900 view with fair validity.

Palmers Works1900 view of the Engine Works & Shipbuilding Yard Departments of Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company (part of a view of Palmers Works). Sources: b/i-ii).

Key to Numbered labels: 1. Machine shed. 2. Forge. 3. machine shed. 4. Frame bevelling shop. 5. Frame setting shop. 6. Angleiron smith’s shop. 7. Shipyard Admiralty general & time office. 8. Entrance. 9. Engine erecting shop. 10. Brass foundry. 11. Pattern makers shop. 12. Engine erecting shop. 13. Machine shop. 14. Smith shop. 15. Fitting and brass finishing shop. 16. Iron foundry. 17. Forge. 18. Boiler erecting shop. 19. Engine works wharf. 20. Dry dock. 21. Shipbuilding yard department. 22. Shipyard managers, drawing office, model loft.

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See the 1887 plan beneath which provided the numbered labels for the above view.

Palmers Works1887 plan of Palmers Works b/ii).

In 1909 the details of the shops in the engineering works department were: (i) light machine shop 183 ft; (ii) medium machine shop 183 ft; (iii) heavy machine shop 375 ft; (iv) fitting shop 375 ft; (v) tool & gauge room (adjacent to the machine and fitting shops); (vi) screwing shop; (vii) brass finishers shop; (viii) erecting shop 400' long, 59' wide, 50' high; (ix) smiths shop (recently erected); then the following are adjacent to the riverside (x) funnel building shop; (xi) coppersmith and plumbers shop.b/iii… pp62-65).

The 1909 information shows that the engineering works had been enlarged and re-arranged following the 1900 view. "… the engine works department … has in recent years been practically reconstructed to keep it in the front rank of marine engine building establishments b/iii… p56).There are now 5 large shops and a new smiths shop b/iii… pp62-65). The buildings were probably now closely aligned leading to a need for light. See the comment: "the roofs of the erecting shop and of most of the adjacent shops are entirely of glass"b/iii… p64). Did they think that so much glass would be lethal in a bombing raid? The continuous outline of the main section of the engineering works in the 1913 OS map probably indicates this close alignment. See a transcription of pages 55-68 detailing these citations here.

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Now compare the above images with the following combination of Jarrow 1912 & the Willington Quay 1897 OS maps with the superimposed Zeppelin bombing locations.

Palmers Works1897 + 1907 OS maps showing the curved path of the Zeppelin bombing sequence: 1: North Eastern Marine Engineering works (Willington); 2: Hebburn Colliery; 3: Football field near Blackett St Ordnance Works; 4: Palmer’s Engineering Works Department; 5: Cookson’s Antimony Works (Howdon); 6: Pochin’s Willington Quay Chemical works (Howdon).

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More detail is given of the Willington Quay bombing run in the following scale diagram below, which can be matched up to the above 1897 + 1907 OS maps, using the ward boundaries and direct ferry route on the river as markers.

Image of Zeppelin raid on Willington Quay.Scale diagram of Willington Quay & the River Tyne, showing the curved path of the Zeppelin bombing sequence.

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The following diagram shows (in 2 parts) the straight line path of the Zeppelin travelling over South Shields, then out to sea..

Image of Zeppelin raid on South Shields.Zeppelin raid on South Shields.

The suggested further step is to compare this OS map combination with the HM War Office's official map of the route taken by the Zeppelin raid… images 45 & 46 in the photogallery here . Also see the summary of the Zeppelin raid here.

 

Sources:
  Books:
b/i)     Malcolm Dillon. Some Account of the works of Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron company. W.E. Franklin, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; 1900 (1st Ed); 9, 47. Online here, also here. (… 55 pages).
b/ii)     J. F. Clarke. Century of service to engineering and shipbuilding: a centenary history of the North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, 1884-1984. North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, Newcastle; 1984; 42. (1887 visit of Institution of Naval Architects: Plan of shipbuilding yard, engine, steel and iron works at Jarrow-on-Tyne, belonging to Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Limited.)
b/iii)     Malcolm Dillon. Some Account of the works of Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron company.
   W.E. Franklin, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; 1909 (4th Ed); 56-65. (… 88 pages) See a transcription of pages 55-68 here.

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