As I came thro' Sandgate, Thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate, As I came thro' Sandgate, I heard a lassie sing "O weel may the keel row, The keel row, the keel row, Weel may the keel row That my laddie's in
"O who is like my Johnnie, Sae leish,[5] sae blithe, sae bonnie; He's foremost 'mang the mony Keel lads o' coaly Tyne He'll set and row sae tightly, And in the dance sae sprightly He'll cut and shuffle lightly, 'Tis true, were he not mine! [Footnote 5: Leish = lithe, nimble.]
"He has nae mair o' learnin' Than tells his weekly earnin', Yet, right frae wrang discernin', Tho' brave, nae bruiser he! Tho' he no worth a plack[6] is, His ain coat on his back is; And nane can say that black is The white o' Johnnie's e'e [Footnote 6: Plack = a small copper coin, worth about one-third of a penny.]
He wears a blue bonnet, Blue bonnet, blue bonnet, He wears a blue bonnet, And a dimple in his chin O weel may the keel row, The keel row, the keel row, Weel may the keel row That my laddie's in."
Sailed from the North of old The strong sons of Odin; Sailed in the Serpent ships, "By hammer and hand" Skilfully builded.
Still in the North-country Men keep their sea-cunning; Still true the legend, "By hammer and hand" Elswick builds war-ships.
For a mile and a quarter, along the north bank of the Tyne, stretch the world-famed Elswick Works, which have grown to their present gigantic proportions from the small beginnings of five and a half acres in 1847. In that year two fields were purchased as a site for the new works about to be started to make the hydraulic machinery which had been invented by Mr. Armstrong.
In this undertaking he was backed by the wealth of several prominent Newcastle citizens, who believed in the future of the new inventions--Messrs. Addison Potter, George Cruddas, Armourer Donkin, and Richard Lambert. At that time Elswick was a pretty country village some distance outside of Newcastle, and the walk along the riverside between the two places was a favourite one with the people of the town. In midstream there was an island, where stood a little inn called the "Countess of Coventry"; and on the island various sports were often held, including horse-racing.
The price of the land for the new shops, which were soon built on the green slopes above the Tyne, was paid to Mr. Hodgson Hind and Mr. Richard Grainger; the latter of whom had intended, could he have carried out his plans for the rebuilding of Newcastle, not to stop until he made Elswick Hall the centre of the town.