South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House is a Grade II listed building in the South Tyneside local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 May 1978. Watch house. 5 related planning applications.

South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House

WRENN ID
high-pinnacle-alder
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
South Tyneside
Constituency
South Shields MP: Emma Lewell (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
18 May 1978
Type
Watch house
Address
South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House, South Pier
OS grid reference
NZ 373 678
Coordinates
55.00389, -1.41692
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House, built in 1867, is a significant structure that reflects the founding of the South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade. An octagonal lookout tower and a small surgery were added in 1875. The building features a wood frame with timber cladding and slated roofs, characterized by overhanging eaves and decorative bargeboards on the gable ends. The surgery extension is constructed of brick and consists of one bay. The watch house is a single storey, measuring four by six bays, with the lookout tower located at the north-east corner, topped with a low-pitched pointed roof and decorative eaves brackets. It includes wood mullioned and transomed casements, as well as low retaining walls with cast iron railings. This building is listed primarily for its historic significance as one of only two surviving structures associated with their founding organizations, the other being located in Tynemouth, with only three such organizations still active in the rescue of shipwrecked individuals.

Local climate

South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House 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
  • Related listed building consents — 5 applications
  • 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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