Next up on the Tyne and Wear Heritage trail is the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, located on Westgate Road, next door to the Lit & Phil. The Grade II* listed building was opened in 1872, designed by Archibald Matthias Dunn.
The Institute was created today to advance research into mine safety, as a response to numerous disasters in the North-East mines, such as the 1839 disaster at St Hilda’s Colliery in South Shields, which killed 51 men and boys.
The largest room in the building is the Nicholas Wood memorial library. Wood was the first President of the Instititute and a statue of him dominates the library- see below:
kevinthephotographer 