Winlaton Mill, Crowley Iron Works

HER Number:
1006

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Winlaton Mill, Crowley Iron Works

Place:
Winlaton

Map Sheet:
NZ16SE

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Metal Smelting Site

Site Type: Specific:
Iron Works

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C17

Form of Evidence:
Earthwork

Description:
Ironworks founded in 1691 by Ambrose Crowley. The large majority of the complex was erected between the late 1690s and 1718, with limited later additions and alterations. It consisted of a forge, slitting mill, plating (rolling) mill, steel furnaces, nail and file-makers workshops, warehouses, offices and housing. The Crowley Company also operated a similar complex at Swalwell, together with extensive workshops at Winlaton village. The Crowley works employed up to 1,000 people and had their own laws and social security system, including a system of sick pay, a health service, a school and widow's pensions over 200 years before such things became available nationally. The complex was unique in Europe. It was the forerunner of the factory system and also formed the origin of the North East's tradition of ironworking and naval engineering. The site worked until the mid-late nineteenth century and was later overlaid by coal waste from the nearby Clockburn Drift and by the Derwenthaugh Cokeworks. Excavation in 1992 showed some survival beneath the coal waste and has exposed a considerable element of an eighteenth cerntury dam, with associated spillway and race: Winlaton Mill. The Winalton Mill Works stood deserted for many years until it was finally demolished in 1936. SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT

Easting:
1854

Northing:
6055

Grid Reference:
NZ18546055

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1006 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, c.1855, 6 inch scale, Durham 6.JD/JM The Industrial History of the Derwent Walk Country Park -Historic Environment Record M.W. Flinn, (ed) 1952, Extracts from the law book of the Crowley Ironworks,The Publications of the Surtees Society, Vol CLXVII (167) Pers comm. I. Ayris, 1991, Winlaton Mill - Exposed Wall in Former High Dam Area Director of Planning, 1992, Recent Archaeological Excavations in Gateshead D. Cranstone, 1991, Winlaton Mill Report on site investigation, December 1990 D. Cranstone, 1992, Winlaton Mill Archaeological Investigations 1991-2 Crowley's - Gateway to the Old Works at Winlaton Mill A. Young, 1776, A Six Months Tour through the North of England I. Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 49 Dept. Culture Media & Sport, 2004, Schedule Entry Monument, No. 35568; W. Bourn, 1896, History of the Parish of Ryton; Archaeological Research Services, 2018 Crowley Dam, Winlaton Mill, Historic Building Recording;