Geordie lamp

Geordie Lamp

The Geordie Lamp by Andy Mayers, was unveiled 20.3.24 on the site of the former Killingworth Colliery in North Tyneside. The sculpture celebrates the life and achievements of George Stephenson who began his career at the colliery. Inspiration was taken from Stephenson’s safety miners lamp, the scientific community initially accused him of stealing the idea from Humphry Davy as they didn’t believe someone with no formal education could have created the lamp. Although he was later exonerated, the lamp was only used around Newcastle and became known as the Geordie Lamp, and the miners that used it ‘Geordies’.

In addition the sculpture is sited where the test track was located, used for the Rocket built by Robert Stephenson before the historic trip from Liverpool to Manchester.