A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



directions as to working the iron of the colony.^^ 

 It is said that the last hoes sent to the slave plan- 

 tations in the West Indies, the weight of which 

 roused the indignation of the writer whose 

 description of the works in 1793 appears in the 

 Athenaum of 1 807, were made at Winlaton.^' 



Crowley continued to live in London, but his 

 frequent visits to the north kept him in touch 

 with both works. In a letter from Winlaton, 

 dated 13 November, 1702, he attributes the 

 success of his enterprise to Sir William Bowes, 

 to whom the letter is addressed : — 



My business at home is very pressing for me to be at 

 London, but the greatest of my griefs is that I am not 

 in London to show how sensible I am of the great 

 favours I have had from you even to the enabling of 

 me to establish the Iron Manufactory in this country 

 which will be to your immortal glory." 



The works were carried on at Swalwell, Win- 

 laton, and Winlaton Mill ; the heavy goods, 

 such as anchors, were made at Swalwell, for the 

 river was navigable as far as that point, and as 

 the anchors weighed as much as 70 cwt. or 

 80 cwt. there was a saving of carriage ; but a 

 great many goods were shipped from Blaydon, for 

 the cost of conveying from Swalwell to Winlaton 

 was IS. 5^., from Winlaton to Blaydon only qd. 

 At Swalwell, too, were the forging hammers and 

 slitting mill. The lighter goods were made at 

 Winlaton and Winlaton Mill. A tilt-hammer 

 that excited some astonishment by its rapidity of 

 action, 520 strokes to the minute, was erected at 

 Winlaton Mill.^* All the iron used was brought 

 in bars to the works, much coming from the 

 Baltic, and the most extraordinarily minute direc- 

 tions are laid down in the regulations drawn up 

 by Crowley for the conduct of his works, as to 

 the correct counting of the bars when disem- 

 barked from the keels at Swalwell or Blaydon ; 

 ' that thoughtless bruit Thirkeld ' had counted 

 wrongly and caused this new law to be made. 

 The teller must have a clear voice and not be 

 given to idle talking, ' he must cry aloud (I say 

 very loud) ' so that the bystanders could be a 

 check on him."^ 



Even to the present day the whole district is 

 reminiscent of Crowley. At the mill dam, 

 about a quarter of a mile from Winlaton, ' Sir 

 Ambrose Crowley, 1 691,' is carved in the stone ; 

 the ' Sir ' must be an interpolation, for he was 

 not knighted until 1706 ; at the works, the bell 

 with its date 1799 recalls the fact that for nearly 

 200 years, from 1690 to i860, the Winlaton 

 Mill curfew was rung each evening ; the time- 

 gun which was fired at nine each evening, when 



" J. M. Swank, Manufacture of Iron in all Ages, 163. 

 " J. Cowen, op. cit. 26. 

 " Letter inserted in beginning of Law Book. 

 '° Athenaeum, loc. cit. 1807. 



'* Law Book of the Crowley Ironworks, Winlaton, 

 Law 30, v. 5,fol. \ib ; B.M. Add. MSS. 34555. 



the men began their night shift, is also in 

 existence." (PI. Ill, fig. I.) An old brass clock 

 with four cherubs' heads at each corner, used 

 at the Crowley works, still gives the time to 

 the workers at the Winlaton Mill, which goes 

 on under Messrs. Raines, the works having 

 been sold in 1863, after having been carried 

 on under the same name for more than 170 

 years. The Swalwell factory does not show 

 so many signs of its age ; on different parts 

 of the buildings, where Messrs. Ridley & 

 Co. still carry on the manufacture of steel, 

 various dates, 1713, 1 81 2, 1842, appear, and it 

 is said that a much earlier date is to be seen when 

 the water supply is drawn off. How rapid was 

 the growth of the works in the early days is 

 shown by some facts recorded in the Univenal 

 Magaxine for August, 1788 : — 



Before Sir Ambrose settled his people here, the place 

 (Winlaton) consisted of a few deserted cottages, and 

 now contains about 1,500 inhabitants, chiefly smiths. 

 The works carried on in this town are various. The 

 making of nails is the chief branch ; but there is an 

 eye of jealousy on inquiry, and the traveller can reap 

 little information as to the various articles manufac- 

 tured, or quantity produced." 



A Crowley bill of 1795, for ^^38 i8j. -]()., gives 

 a good idea of the local trade done by the firm.^'' 

 Nails of various kinds, flat-heads, sharks, spike, rose 

 and drawd, are the principal items ; but locks of 

 every description, chisels, claw-hammers, trowels, 

 glass-house shovels,screwbolts,Birmingham spades, 

 are included, and miscellaneous items as bread, 

 lime, sand, pantiles, and glue.^" Further par- 

 ticulars of the trade are given in an advertise- 

 ment inserted by Crowley in The Post Boy}^ 



Mr. Crowley at the Doublet in Thames Street, 

 London, Ironmonger, doth hereby give notice that at 

 his works at Winlaton, near Newcastle upon Tyne, 

 any good workmen that can make the following 

 Goods, shall have constant Imployment, and their 

 wages every week punctually paid, (viz) Augers, Bed- 

 screws, Box and Sad Irons (flat-irons, sad = heavy). 

 Chains, Edge-Tools, Tiles, Hammers, Hinges, Hows 

 for the Plantations, Locks, especially Ho- Locks, Nails, 

 Patten Rings, and almost all other sorts of smiths 



Later, Crowley's steel had an immense reputa- 

 tion in the mercantile world, the waters of the 



" I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Parker 

 Brewis of Newcastle-upon-Tyne for the photograph. 



'* Universal Mag. Aug. 1788, 57. 



" I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Mackey of 

 Pudding Chare, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the loan of 

 this document, and also for drawing my attention to 

 an article in the Athenaum for 1807 concerning 

 Swalwell. 



'" Bill of Sir Thomas John Clavering, ban., to 

 Messrs. Crowley, Millington & Co., from 24 Jan. 

 1795, to 17 Dec. 1796. 



" The Post Boy, No. 510, 1699. 



282 



