A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



done by two 3-ton steam travelling cranes, having 

 30-foot jibs; eighteen boilers arranged in pairs 

 and working through nine brick-lined iron chim- 

 neys are attached to these mills. The ingots 

 for the angle mills are supplied from the seven 

 Siemens-Martin melting furnaces immediately 

 adjoining with a producing capacity of nearly 

 2,000 tons a week. The 45-inch cogging mill 

 is opposite the melting furnaces, so that little 

 heat is lost in transmitting the ingots from the 

 melting furnaces to cogging heating furnaces, 

 which are served by a steam derrick locomotive 

 crane. Directly in front of the cogging mill, but 

 at a distance of 75 ft., is an enormous bloom 

 shear, connected with the 32-inch and 22-inch 

 angle mills, which are 125 ft. distant, by live roller 

 gear. The live roller gear also leads to the scrap- 

 cutting billet shears and steam circular sawing 

 machines, the latter being of vertical type worked 

 by hydraulic force. The new angle mill plant 

 was designed by the company's mill engineer, 

 Mr. James Scott. 



In connexion with the plate mills there is also 

 a 28-inch cogging mill, capable of dealing with 

 1,650 tons of ingots per week, and a 45-inch 

 mill ; in a line with the latter is placed a large 

 bloom shear, driven by high-pressure reversing 

 engines. This mill is capable of cogging 2,600 

 tons of ingots per week. 



Eleven collieries, 1,050 coke ovens, a foundry 

 at Crookhall, brick works about half a mile from 

 the iron and steel works, and numerous engineer- 

 ing shops, supply material or repair the wear and 

 tear of the works. 



Practically the whole world is their market ; 

 but a small pamphlet bound in bright yellow linen, 

 illustrated with diagrams and containing the price 

 list of the Consett Works in Japanese, which the 

 firm have thought necessary to have drawn up, 

 testifies to the activity of their Japanese trade.'' 



The Weardale Iron and Coal Company was 

 started by Charles Attwood, financed by Baring 

 Brothers, who purchased a small furnace at 

 Stanhope, where the first pig iron from Weardale 

 ironstone was smelted ; the old furnace is still to 

 be seen there. 



In 1845 five blast furnaces were built at Tow 

 Law, within a few miles of Stanhope. It was 

 not, however, until 1853 that the Tudhoe iron 

 works were begun in order to deal with the pig 

 iron manufactured at Tow Law. Two forges 

 and two mills were soon so fully occupied that 

 two years later it was necessary to add two more, 

 and the works developed so rapidly that they 

 soon covered 60 acres of ground. 



In 1 86 1 the Bessemer process of making steel 

 was begun, Tudhoe being one of the first places 



^ I am indebted to Mr. George, of the Consett 

 Iron Works, for much of the .ibove information ; 

 W. Jenkins, op. cit. ; Excerpt Minutes of Proceedings 

 of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle, 

 1885. 



where it was installed. The plant was laid 

 down under the direct supervision of the inventor 

 himself. 



In 1870 two blast furnaces were built at Tud- 

 hoe and exclusively devoted to smelting Cleveland 

 ore. Gradually, however, steel was substituted 

 for iron. In 1899 a complete change took place 

 in the history of the work, up to this date the 

 company had consisted practically of the Baring 

 family, but in October, 1899, the private com- 

 pany became a limited liability company, with 

 nine directors, of whom Sir Christopher Furness 

 was chairman. Inclusive of their coal and coke 

 works, the company pays j^ 1,000 a day in wages. 



The South Durham Steel and Iron Company, 

 of which Sir Christopher Furness is chairman, 

 was formed by the amalgamation of three com- 

 panies : the Stockton Malleable Iron Company, 

 the Moor Steel and Iron Company, and the 

 West Hartlepool Steel and Iron Company. The 

 Malleable works at Stockton are the largest; they 

 cover 90 acres, and the plant consists of 8 Siemens 

 furnaces, I cogging mill, 3 plate mills, I sheet 

 mill, 32 puddling furnaces, I angle mill, i pack- 

 ing mill, I guide mill. Two furnaces for the 

 Talbot process of steel manufacture are being 

 added. These works have the enormous advan- 

 tage of a river frontage on the Tees and a wharf 

 of their own. The smallest of the works, those 

 at West Hartlepool, which only cover 22 acres, 

 are adjacent to the North Eastern Railway, 

 and are able to secure pig iron from the neigh- 

 bouring blast furnaces. Two furnaces for the 

 Talbot process are to be installed here also. 



The Moor works, also at Stockton-on-Tees, 

 cover almost twice the ground covered by the 

 West Hartlepool Works ; the shops for making 

 and repairing the electric motors for both the 

 South Durham and the Cargo Fleet (Yorkshire) 

 Companies are there. At the meeting of share- 

 holders in 1906 the ciiairman reported that the 

 output from the three works reached almost 8,000 

 tons of finished material, the weekly wage bill 

 was about ^8,000. During the last nine months 

 they had paid ^37,845 in railway carriage and 

 dock dues. At none of these works is the raw 

 material manufactured ; this fact places them at 

 a disadvantage as regard the Consett and Wear- 

 dale Works. 



There is an allusion to an ironfounder in 

 Darlington as early as 1798.""' In 1807 Edward 

 Carlton was bound to Messrs. Ridsdale and 

 Porter, forgers, makers and grinders of Heckle- 

 pins, Darlington, for seven years. ^"^ During the 

 first half of the nineteenth century a number of 

 small foundries were at work. In 1827 two iron 

 merchants, John Botcherley, Union Row, and 

 Wass Bright, Grange Row, and three iron and 

 brass founders, one in Commercial Street, one in 

 the Market Place, and one in the Horse Market, 



'™Reg. of the Church of St. Cuthbert, Darlington. 



"" Parish Apprentice Reg., Hurworth. 



292 



