Copperas Gill / Copperas Works

There once existed at Cox Green a Copperas Works. Strictly speaking, the works site lay slightly down-river of Cox Green, between Cox Green and Offerton but was known as the Cox Green Copperas Works and is marked as such on old maps.

According to historical records, this was a dye and pigment site and was located not far from where Cox Green School was later built. Indeed, an area is still known today as Copperas Gill, named after the works.

To find Copperas Gill today, follow the country lane from Offerton past the school-house junction, over the old railway bridge, past Woodhouse Farm towards Wearside Golf Club and a footpath peels off to the left. Copperas Gill is the area between the club and the river Wear.

Above: "Copperas Gill" looking downhill towards the river Wear.

Above and below: where Copperas Gill meets the river Wear.

To some extent, the copperas works was the predecessor of the later Washington Chemical Works which was situated on the north bank of the river opposite Cox Green. Copperas occupied a key position in commercial chemistry from the mid 18th to the mid 19th centuries, but its use goes back as far as the 16th century. Copperas is a little-known chemical today. Despite its name, copperas has nothing at all to do with copper. It was also known as 'green vitriol' and is in fact iron sulphate. It had many industrial uses. It was used, for example, to produce ink or black dyes for hats (indeed there was an Act of Parliament in 1565 forbidding the use of any other dye for black caps!). The trade developed especially in coal-producing areas because coal was critical to the process of extracting the sulphuric acid, as was a good water supply. The trade declined when better ways were developed of obtaining sulphuric acid. According to local trade directories of the 1820's (see the 'Directories/Gazetteers' page of this site), the Copperas Works were owned by 'Fenwick & Co.'. This company was a manufacturer of glass, and in the 1820's was based in Low Street, Bishopwearmouth. The copperas from this site was used in the glass colouring process.

Here is a 19th century description of the manufacture of Copperas, author is Taylor Potts:

"Copperas was manufactured from the brasses picked out from the coal at the collieries. Tons of brasses were laid together upon a level platform to secure the drainage, which led to the receivers for the liquor draining from the brasses after rain. These receivers were emptied into a large boiler and heat applied, after which the liquor was allowed to cool and the water run off; the crystals were then gathered from the different appliances placed for the purpose and packed into large casks or hogsheads ready for shipment. Brasses had to be replenished from the different collieries to make up for the wasting away, also to keep up the strengthened quality of the liquor".

The following series of maps show the layout of the copperas works here. Some remaining evidence of pathways and structures can still be seen in the landscape today - see further below for images and descriptions.

On the map below (1873), the footpath - as one descends the gill towards the river Wear - forks left and right at the point marked with the red circle.

Above: the fork in the path, looking down the gill in the direction of the river Wear. The left-hand fork goes up to the works, the right-hand fork down to the riverbank.

The right-hand fork, leading downhill, follows the natural course of the stream down-hill to the river Wear. At this point, on the left, on the river bank, stood Copperas Cottage. The actual copperas works was on a level considerably higher than the cottage and the waterfront. To reach it, follow the left-hand fork in the path, though this area is much more overgrown today.

Above: Copperas Works, 1826. Map by Sir John Rennie

Above: Copperas Works site, 1873

Above: Copperas Works site, 1896.

Above: Copperas Works site, 1919

Above: Copperas Works site, 1939

Above: Copperas Works site, 1959. The remains of Copperas Cottage can be seen though the building looks to be now in ruins.

Above: on the left was the site of Copperas Cottage. Taken from the point where Copperas Gill meets the the river Wear looking west towards Cox Green.

Above and below: remains of structures in the Copperas Cottage area

Note: By the 1850's, the copperas works was owned by George Lyndsay of Sunderland. There is a record of George Lyndsay becoming bankrupt by 1872: http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/23844/pages/1717/page.pdf

Considering the various census returns over the years (see section below), it would appear that the works went out of commission between the 1881 and 1891 census returns. The family who were present in the most recently-released census -1911 - the Dickesons, had been at Copperas House since at least 1881 - at least 30 years. In 1881, Richard Dickeson was employed as copperas manufacturer but later, by 1891, he was employed as a roadman, implying that copperas manufacturing either no longer took place, or at least not to such an extent that it would provide full-time paid employment.

It would appear that Margery Mason, who was the daughter of the previous incumbent, John Mason, married Richard Dickeson in 1873. In the 1871 census, Richard was aged 19, living with his parents in Cox Green and working as an apprentice butcher. After his marriage to Margery in 1873, it seems likely that Richard moved into Copperas House and underwent a major career change to continue the copperas manufacturing process, probably in cooperation with his father-in-law, John Mason, who died in 1880. It is likely that John Mason would have taught Richard the copperas manufacturing process.

It would be good to hear from any descendents of any of these families and any subsequent research they have done on this family or area.

Above: The gravestone of Richard and Margery Dickeson in Penshaw Church Cemetery. Their sons John James and Norman Dickeson are also commemorated here.

Photograph courtesy of Mr Keith Cockerill, February 2019.

Country: France

Area: Aisne

Rank: Private

Official Number: 165072

Unit: 100th Bn. Machine Gun Corps (Infantry).

Force: Army

Nationality: British

Details:

Died 4th October 1918. Age 22. Son of Richard and Margery Dickeson of Copperas House Coxgreen Washington Station Co. Durham. II. C.19.

Norman is also commemorated on his parents' gravestone in Penshaw Churchyard. See further up this page for gravestone image.

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Above: Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 30 June 1865

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 12 July 1877

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 12 July 1880

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 18 January 1882

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 17 February 1887

Above: Durham County Advertiser, 05 April 1907

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 05 May 1921

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 04 October 1926

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 12 March 1929

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 30 March 1929

Above: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 24 March 1937

Above: Directly behind the gravestone of Richard and Margery is the gravestone of Sarah Dickeson in Penshaw Church Cemetery.

Inhabitants:

1911 census:

Copperas House

Richard Dickeson, aged 56, married, roadman, born Cox Green

Marjery Dickeson, aged 61, married, -, born Cox Green

Sarah Dickeson, aged 36, single, -, born Cox Green

Norman Dickeson, aged 15, single, -, born Cox Green

1901 census:

Copperas House

Richard Dickeson, aged 47, married, roadman, born Penshaw

Margery Dickeson, aged 50, married, -, born Northumberland N.K.

Sarah Dickeson, aged 27, single, born Penshaw

Eleanor Dickeson, 25, single, dressmaker, born Penshaw

John Jas. Dickeson, 24, single, gamekeeper, born Penshaw

Annie Dickeson, 17, single, -, born Penshaw

Norman Dickeson, 5, single, -, born Penshaw

1891 census:

Copperas House

Richard Dickeson, aged 36, married, roadman, born Cox Green

Margery, aged 41, married, -, born Northumberland Bellingham

Sarah, aged 17, single, -, born Wood House

John James, aged 14, single, -, born Cox Green

Annie Ethel, aged 7, single, -, born Copperas House

1881 census:

Copperas House

Richard Dickinson, aged 26, married, copperas manufacturer, born Cox Green

Margery Dickinson, aged 30, married -, born Northumberland Bellingham

Sarah Dickinson, aged 7, single, scholar, born Cox Green

Eleanor Dickinson, aged 5, scholar, born Cox Green

John J., aged 4, single, -, born Cox Green

1871 census:

Copperas Works

John Mason, aged 57, widow, copperas manufacturer, born Northumberland Bellingham

Margery Mason, aged 20, single, -, born Northumberland Bellingham

John Mason, aged 17, single, cartwright, born Cox Green

Margaret Mason, aged 12, single, -, scholar, born Cox Green

Ann Mason, aged 10, single, -, born Cox Green

William F., aged 7, single, born Cox Green

1861 census:

Netherton Shore

John Mason, aged 48, married, copperas manufacturer, born Northumberland Temple Green

Elener Mason, aged 41, married, -, born Northumberland Snabdough

Jane Mason, aged 15, -, born Northumberland.... ?

Margery Mason, aged 10, scholar, born Cox Green

John Mason, aged 7, scholar, born Cox Green

Elenor Mason, aged 5, -, born Cox Green

Margaret Mason, aged 3, -, born Cox Green

Ann Mason, aged 5mo, -, born Cox Green

Note: 1858: Post Office Directory of Northumberland & Durham: George Lindsay, copperas manufacturer, Cox Green (Manager John Mason)

1851 census:

Copperas House

There three household entries for Copperas House in the 1851 census:

Robert Burn, aged 40, married, factory labourer, born Durham Auckland

Elizabeth Burn, aged 34, married, born Durham Auckland

Robert Burn, aged 11, scholar, born Durham Auckland

Mathies Burn, aged 7, born Durham Auckland

Thomas Burn, aged 5, born Durham Auckland

Henry Burn, aged 1, born Painshaw

William Laverick, aged 57, farm labourer, born Durham Billingham

Barbara Laverick, aged 62, born Durham Lanchester

Andrew Laverick, aged 16, shipwright apprentice, born Painshaw

John Mason, aged 37, married, copperas labourer, born Northumberland Bellingham

Eleanor Mason, 29, married, born Northumberland Bellingham

Isabel Mason, aged 17, born Northumberland Bellingham

Fenwick Mason, aged 9, born Northumberland Bellingham

Jane Mason, aged 5, born Northumberland Bellingham

John Mason, aged 3, born Northumberland Bellingham

Margery Mason, aged 10mo, born Northumberland Bellingham

1841 census:

The 1841 census is difficult to interpret:

Bottom of Copperas Bank:

John Todd, aged 35, Copperas Factory

Susanna Todd, aged 30

Margaret Todd, aged 12

Sarah Todd, aged 10

Susanna Todd, aged 8

Charlotte Todd, aged 6

Elizabeth Todd, aged 4

Charles Todd, aged 2

Miscellaneous Notes:

John James Dickeson:

British War Medal - 8559 Pte J. J. Dickeson, Durham Light Infantry, World War I casualty

Pte John James Dickeson, 1/5th Btn Durham Light Infantry,

Killed In Action France & Flanders 23rd April 1917.

Born Cox Green. Resided Annfield Plain. Enlisted Consett.

Son of Richard and Margery Dickeson, of Copperas House, Cox Green, Washington Station, Co. Durham; husband of Elizabeth Ann Dickeson, of Langley Moor Farm, Annfield Plain, Co. Durham.

Commemorated on the Arras Memorial

John is also commemorated on his parents' gravestone in Penshaw Churchyard. See further up this page for gravestone image.

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Norman Dickeson:

Cemetery: Prospect Hill Cemetery Gouy