Accumulator Tower in Albert Edward Dock is a Grade II* listed building in the North Tyneside local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 February 1986. Hydraulic tower.
Accumulator Tower in Albert Edward Dock
- WRENN ID
- far-corner-woodpecker
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- North Tyneside
- Constituency
- Tynemouth MP: Sir Alan Campbell (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 19 February 1986
- Type
- Hydraulic tower
- Address
- Accumulator Tower in Albert Edward Dock, Howdon Road
- OS grid reference
- NZ 353 669
- Coordinates
- 54.99581, -1.44975
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The accumulator tower in Albert Edward Dock is a Grade II* listed hydraulic accumulator tower built in 1882 for the Tyne Improvement Commissioners, designed by engineers Ure and Messent. It is constructed from rock-faced sandstone with quoins, an ashlar plinth, coping, and dressings, topped with a Welsh slate roof. The tower features two high storeys and one bay. There is a partly-glazed door beneath a rock-faced elliptical arch, with similar arches and projecting stone sills for the windows, although the windows on the east face are blocked up. The roof is swept pyramidal, featuring a railed lookout on top and a bargeboarded gable above star-patterned panels, which are said to have contained clock faces. Inside, the tower showcases high-quality sandstone ashlar, an iron stair leading to the machinery, and hydraulic machinery. This structure is historically significant as the only surviving example of hydraulic machinery on the Tyne, which was first developed in Newcastle by William Armstrong in the 1840s. At the time of the survey, the tower was unused.
Local climate
Accumulator Tower in Albert Edward Dock receives an average of 750 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 69% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 74% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 20 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 79% of listed buildings. Of these, 11 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Hydraulic Accumulator Tower Approximately 20 Metres East of South Dock Basin
- 2 Dock Office at North End of Hudson Dock with Hydraulic Accumulator, Walls and Piers
- 3 Hydraulic Accumulator Tower to West of the Dock Tower
- 4 Dock Clock Tower
- 5 Engine House to Former London and North Western Railway Goods Warehouse
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Nearby listed buildings
- Locks and Lock Gates in Albert Edward Dock
- River Tyne, River Police Offices
- The Former Mercantile Marine Offices
- 27 Mill Dam
- 23 Mill Dam
- Alum House Ham (Tyne Dock Engineering Company Limited)
- Sundial to South West of Church of St Hilda
- War memorial outside St Hilda's Church
- Four Gate Piers Immediately to West of Church of St Hilda
- Old Town Hall