The first steam engine on the north side of the Tyne is said to have been erected at Byker Colliery, the property of Rich. Ridley, esq. The engineer was the reputed son of a Swedish nobleman who taught mathematics at Newcastle. As simplifiers of it, the names of Messrs. Bolton and Watt, as well as Smeaton, the ingenious builder of Eddystone lighthouse will long be held in remembrance. [LHTB]

 

 

• LHTB — Local Historian's Table Book of Remarkable Occurrences Connected with the Counties of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland and Durham by M.A. Richardson. Published in five volumes in 1844.