Crowley Iron Works

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