River Wear Paintings

Girdle Cake Cottage

Girdle Cake Cottage, on the North Bank of the River Wear.

Artist:  Francis Drinkwater, 1899

[ Note Penshaw Monument.   Dog Hole is on the right-hand-side of the distant South Bank, behind the trees. ]

Girdle Cake Cottage

Artist:  Johnson Hedley, 1912

[ This Painting can be seen in Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens. ]

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Mrs Batey's Girdle Cake Cottage & Tea Rooms

( Pre-1900. )

This is not a Painting, it's an original photographic print.  The Photo is attached to an embossed backing card.
Some printer's finger marks are just visible on the road in the bottom-right corner.
[ Photograph & Information contributed by owner, Keith Cockerill. ]

Fatfield Bridge, looking downstream to Girdle Cake Cottage.
[ Previously known as Biddick Bridge and/or Penshaw Bridge. ]

River Wear Paintings

Penshaw Staithes

The South Bank of the River Wear, opposite Girdle Cake Cottage.

Written on rear of picture frame:
Fatfield on Wear, Co Durham, Sunderland 1913, by Johnson Hedley.

The Bird in Bush Inn, near Dog Hole (where the river curves left).
[ Could the Public House in the picture above be Flannigan's Temperance Bar? ]

River Wear Paintings

Victoria Bridge

Victoria Bridge, looking Upstream from the South Bank of the River Wear

Sunderland Artist / WW1 Veteran  -  Thomas McCree Scott (1881 to 1926)

Some of Thomas McCree Scott's local paintings went to auction in 2015.
This Painting was described as Queen Alexandra Bridge.
We know better!

LOW LAMBTON DROPS  leading to  LOW LAMBTON STAITH
Note the Wooden Coal Wagon, left of the two Hoppers, and the Stone from Penshaw Quarries
waiting to be loaded onto boats for transport downriver to the Port of Sunderland.
( Compare with Above Painting. )

LOW LAMBTON STAITH
Botany Bay - the Area around North Biddick Colliery - was said to be a lawless part of Washington.
Locals named it after the convict settlement in Australia.  The Pit was nicknamed 'Butney'.
Note also, the 'Long Reach' section of the River Wear, stretching from Dog Hole.

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Victoria Bridge, looking Upstream from the North Bank of the River Wear

Artist:  John Wilson Carmichael (1838)

[ This Painting can be seen in the National Railway Museum, York. ]

River Wear Etchings

Victoria Bridge

Victoria Bridge, looking upstream towards Dog Hole.

A Steam Locomotive, probably hauling empty Coal Wagons, heads north towards Washington Station.

[ Thanks to Dr. Stafford Linsley. ]

Plan of Victoria Bridge  -  Looking Upstream.

Penshaw Station, left,  Washington Station, right.

[ Sorry everybody, the low quality of this great image makes the Bridge's dimensions unreadable. ]

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Victoria Bridge, looking downstream from Dog Hole.

This stretch of the River is known locally as 'Long Reach'.

Victoria Bridge from Dog Hole.

River Wear Paintings

Washington Staithes

Looking Downstream from the edge of Washington Staithes, mid 1770s.

High Barmston Farm is hidden behind the Trees, where the River curves to the left.
Note the Ferry, where the future Coxgreen Footbridge will be built.

Artist:  William Beilby (1740-1819)

River Wear Paintings

High Barmston Farm

High Barmston Farm, North Bank of the River Wear, 1894

Just Downstream from the Ferry, later Footbridge, at Coxgreen.

Artist:  Albert Milton Drinkwater (1860-1917)
[Thanks to Jean Potts.]

The Haughs (Fields) at High Barmston Farm - known locally as The 'Harves'.
View Upstream to Coxgreen.  Note Victoria Bridge on the horizon.

River Wear Paintings

Orchard Cottage

Orchard Cottage at Head of The Haugh.  The Ferry Boat is pointing Downstream.

Low Barmston Farm is a little further downstream, on this side of the River.
Orchard Cottage was demolished in the late 1940s.

Artist:  Albert Milton Drinkwater (1860-1917)

Passenger Steamer 'City of Norwich' en route to Sunderland.

From a Painting by Albert Milton Drinkwater (1895)

For More Information on this Section of the River Wear, click:
Barmston Riverside.