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Ironmasters of the Derwent Valley
An introduction to the historical background of a past industry in the Northeast of England

emails to; ........ ironmasters@albrown.freeserve.co.uk


The Ironmasters of the lower Derwent Valley occupied three villages. They were developed by Ambrose Crowley who was knighted in 1709 and who became MP for Andover in Hampshire. He died in the year 1716 at an estimated age of 52. The business however stayed firmly in the hands of the family after the untimely death of John followed soon after by his two sons then later that of his wife Theodosia who ran the company till she died in 1785.

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The Iron Villages of the Derwent Valley
Winlaton	Winlaton Mill	Swalwell	History notes

There have been many tales of northeastern England. Most, if not all, have told stories of coal, keelmen and shipbuilding. Few, if any, have described another industry, an industry that existed for over two hundred and fifty years, and which, at one time rivalled coal. In the eighteenth century there were five villages on or near the south banks of the Tyne involved in the manufacture of iron and many of the goods which could be fashioned from that material. Items made included, to quote a line from an old eighteenth century song, `everythin' frae' a needle tiv' an anchor, O.' Chains, hoes, shackles or manacles for the slave trade and cotton fields, chisels, augers, nails and anchors for the navy, pattern rings, candle sticks, frying pans and others for the home markets. It was Sir Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge, (later MP for Andover), who started making nails for the navy around 1690 in the hilltop village of Winlaton. The business quickly expanded though later began a slow decline. First the workers and their facilities at Winlaton were abandoned in 1816 leaving Winlaton Mill and the neighbouring village of Swalwell to pass through several hands until their final demise at the beginning of this century. Old Winlaton Mill, consisting of a factory powered exclusively by nine great water wheels, with specially provided workers' homes, was built by Crowley and lasted for two hundred and forty years. The rolling mills were transferred by Raine to the Delta works in 1915, the houses were declared unfit for human habitation in 1926, vacated by the inhabitants in 1939 and the last was finally demolished in the mid 1950s'. Swalwell, which became the company headquarters in the region supplied anchors, chains and other goods until the mid twentieth century. In the vicinity were the pits, the owners, and their waggonways. Early giants of the coal industry included Cotesworth, Montagu and Liddel. The estates of the gentry, belonged to Bowes of Streatlam and Gibside, the Claverings of Gateshead and Axwell Park, these, together with Stephensons' emerging railway system added to the rich and varied history of the region. The villages of Winlaton and Swalwell still bear the remnants of their history but Winlaton Mill, although proud of its' industrial past, now stands high up above the valley from where it was rebuilt to be free from the river and the damp.

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