Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead: Marking 170 years since blaze which changed face of Tyneside

Katie Cole has been discovering the impact of the little known Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead 170 years on

An explosion 170 years ago this week sparked a fire that would forever change the face of Newcastle and Gateshead.

Many on Tyneside believed the end of the world was upon them in the early hours of 6 October 1854 as a fire took hold of Gateshead.

It soon spread across the Tyne - claiming the lives of 53 people and injuring more than 500.

The Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead has faded into relative obscurity - sparking an effort on Tyneside to make sure it is not forgotten.

Tom Elwick, from the Discovery Museum, in Newcastle, said: "All of the big events like the Great Fire of London get all the glory but this local event is something that changed the Quayside."

The fire started at woollen yarn factory, Wilson's Worsted, which was next to a timber yard and warehouse containing explosive chemicals.

It was a fatal combination.

Police Constable John Ewart, of the Newcastle Constabulary, spotted the fire and raced across the Old Tyne Bridge to warn the local fire brigade.

Flames quickly spread to surrounding buildings and a lumber yard.

Standing next to Wilson's factory was the warehouse of Bertram and Spencer which contained a perfect cocktail of chemicals.

"The chemicals inside would glow when burnt, giving off a bluey purple glow," Tom explained. "The sulphur in there became almost like lava which came spewing out of windows."

It was a terrifying spectacle for those watching on.

Tom continued: "A lot of the buildings were from Tudor times - made from wood and were very close together so fire spread quickly through those buildings."

It was the perfect recipe for a town-wide inferno which spread across the river to Newcastle's Quayside.

Crowds gathered on the Old Tyne Bridge, where the Swing Bridge now stands, to seek safety.

They watched as the stereo inferno engulfed both sides of the river, looking on as sulphur poured like lava out of Bertram and Spencer's warehouse windows.

Firefighters arriving atop horse-drawn fire engines took one-and-a-half days to bring the blaze under control.

Fire engines arrived from all over the region with many from Hexham, Durham, Morpeth and Berwick brought to Newcastle by rail.

Despite the crowds watching then, knowledge of the this major event has fizzled.

Tom now runs events for schools where they are hosting a 'Great Fire' week to educate children on the event.

He said "People come into the museum and you say 'oh, do you know about the Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead?'.

"Lots of them say 'no i didn't have a clue, I didn't know this took place'.

"Local schools know this story quite well - it's quite a popular topic within local history."The Quayside would not be what it is today without this event."

Alongside the destruction of the Quayside, 53 people died and more than 500 were injured in the fire - more than were officially recorded to have perished in the Great Fire of London.

Damage to property came in at around £500,000, the equivalent of more than £42.5m in today's money.

Only a few buildings on the Newcastle Quayside survived that day.

Bessie Surtees House, on Sandhill, in Newcastle, is one such building which still stands, just as it has since it was built as a merchant's house in the 16th century.

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