February 1, 2017: Sunset at Dunston Staithes, Gateshead

Dunston Staiths on the River Tyne is said to be the largest timber structure in Europe.  Opened in 1893, at its peak about 5.5m tonnes of coal a year was taken by rail from the Durham coalfields and loaded from onto ships waiting on the river for transport around the British Isles and elsewhere.  As the coal industry declined in the latter twentieth century, so did Dunston Staiths, but it was restored in the 1980s.  Serious fire damaged a portion of the monument in 2003.