Demolition plans for house with a history
Jan 4 2008 by Tony Henderson, The Journal
PLANS have been tabled to demolish a house which has links to the pioneering days of shipbuilding on the Tyne.
Point Pleasant House near the riverfront in Wallsend in North Tyneside was the home of John Coutts, who in the 1840s began building iron ships at yards in Low Walker and later Willington Quay.
It was also the home of Charles Sheriton Swan, a founder of the Swan Hunter company. Another illustrious owner of Point Pleasant House was William Losh, the Tyneside industrialist, chemical manufacturer and collaborator with George Stephenson.
Charles Swan took over as managing director of the Wallsend Slipway Company in 1874, and the house is on the northern border of the works. Swan was killed in 1879 when, as he crossed the English Channel by paddle steamer on the last leg of a business trip to Russia, he fell from the vessel and was struck by one of the paddle blades.
His position at the Wallsend yard was taken by George Burton Hunter, who entered into a business arrangement with Swan’s widow, Mary. Charles’s son became a director of the company in 1895.
On Tuesday North Tyneside councillors will decide on a bid by the NAB Group to demolish the house and build 12 flats and eight terrace homes on the site, which is fringed by mature trees.
It is thought that the present building is a surviving side wing of the original mansion, which from at least 1822 was part of a 127-acre rural estate – one of three owned by James Muncaster of Wallsend Hall.
Other owners included Thomas Jobling, who had an extensive mining engineering business and was manager and part-owner of Jarrow Colliery. It is believed that much of the original building suffered from bomb and fire damage in the Second World War.
But of the surviving wing, Newcastle author Ken Smith, who has written a series of books on shipyards and shipping on the Tyne, said yesterday: “ It seems to be an amazing survival with strong connections to marine engineering and shipbuilding on the river. I think it is worth a second look because of the significance of links to the history of shipbuilding on the Tyne, of which not much has survived.”
Planners, who are recommending refusal, say that the scheme is an over-development of the site.
