IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Dykes Way, GATESHEAD, NE10 8QL

Now an informal green space.

Whitehill Drive can be seen in the middle distance.

The area on which 'The Fortress' was constructed was once a slag heap for Heworth Colliery to the south-east of Windy Nook quarry. It had a connection to the Pelaw Main Waggonway providing access to the Pelaw Main coal staithes on the River Tyne at Bill Quay. The colliery closed in 1963.

Richard Cole's Windy Nook, completed in 1986 transformed a former colliery slag heap and is noted for its excellent views. At the summit is a terrace of concentric semi-circular stone walls and turfed earthworks incorporating 2,500 tons of granite recycled from pillars supporting the old Scotswood Bridge.

Richard Kell was the second son of Ebenezer Kell of Felling Shore, born in 1749. Richard began quarrying at Heworth Shore in 1784. The family continued the business of quarrying throughout the C19th, establishing quarries at High Heworth and Windy Nook, amongst others. St. Alban’s Church, Windy Nook Board Schools, the Co-operative Society and Windy Nook Fever Hospital are among the many buildings built with stone from Kell’s Quarry at Windy Nook. Windy Nook Sandstone Quarries were famous for producing high quality grindstones and pulp-stones (used in paper mills). The quarries became run down in the early 1900s and were eventually filled in during the 1960s. View towards Whitehills, with Image on the hilltop above the trees.

Whitehills at Windy Nook.

Locally known as the "Fortress", a structure on top of White Hill - for further details see Image At 261 metres, White Hill is believed to be the highest point within Gateshead Borough (and within the former county of Tyne and Wear).

Locally known as the "Fortress", a structure on top of White Hill - for further details see Image At 261 metres, White Hill is believed to be the highest point within Gateshead Borough (and within the former county of Tyne and Wear).

Richard Cole's Windy Nook, completed in 1986 transformed a former colliery slag heap and is noted for its excellent views. At the summit is a terrace of concentric semi-circular stone walls and turfed earthworks incorporating 2,500 tons of granite recycled from pillars supporting the old Scotswood Bridge.

A sculpture in stone blocks and earth 30m long and 15m wide by Richard Cole 1986. The granite blocks came from the old Scotswood Bridge. Resembles a fortification on the top of the hill, a former colliery pit heap. Known locally as 'the fortress'. http://www.twsitelines.info/Siteline.nsf/8f71f680ce308c9a802573a80061c133/d64175f0c7141e50802576af003eb20a