The inquest juries found that no direct evidence as to the origin of the fire was presented. Mill hands responsible for various of the upper floors gave testimony that at the end of the day, all gas lights had been extinguished, and the gas supply isolated at a main tap; no cause was suggested and no progress made in this line of enquiry. The Gateshead jury found that there must have been "some want of caution displayed" at the mill to occasion the fire.