Walker Township, 1848

WALKER, a township, in the parish of Long Benton, union of Tynemouth, E. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 2½ miles (E.) from Newcastle; containing, in 1847, about 4,900 inhabitants. The township is bounded on the south by the river Tyne, and comprises 1,108a. 3r. 33p., of strong clay land good for wheat; the whole belonging to the corporation of Newcastle, partly in their own right, and partly as trustees for Jesus' Hospital. Along the banks of the river are several extensive manufactories and coalstaiths. Walker colliery is the property of Captain Potts and Messrs. Jobling and Carr; the pit is 110 fathoms deep to the main seam, and the coal, which is of the best quality, is chiefly sent to the London market. In this colliery is a salt-spring, which was used in the manufacture of soda, when that substance was first made an article of commerce; the manufacture was begun by permission of the government in 1795, by Messrs. Surtees and Losh, who may be regarded as the first producers of mineral alkali and soda in England. Large ironworks are carried on; also mills for crushing seeds, an oil-factory, and turpentine-distillery: iron ships are built; and bricks and tiles, and copperas, are extensively manufactured. The Newcastle and Tynemouth railway has a station here. The township was constituted an ecclesiastical district in 1846, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37: the living is in the gift of the Crown and the Bishop of Durham, alternately. Walker is exempt from great tithes: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £22. 10., and a modus of £2 per annum is paid to Balliol College, Oxford. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Presbyterians; and two schools. The great Roman wall passes here, and terminates within a mile and a half of the village; there are traces of the ditch in front, and stones and other remains have been dug up from the foundations.