- Winlaton
Winlaton is a village situated in the
Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead ,Tyne and Wear . Once an independent village inCounty Durham , it became incorporated into the metropolitan county ofTyne and Wear and Borough of Gateshead in 1974.Winlaton was once at the centre of the local steel industry.
Ambrose Crowley a Quaker nail-manufacturer moved in 1691 to Winlaton, where he set up furnaces and forges on the River Derwent. The river was ideally suitable for tempering steel as the sword-makers ofShotley Bridge also found. Crowley not only produced high-quality nails, but also iron goods such as pots, hinges, wheel-hubs, hatchets and edged tools. He could also make heavy forgings, such as chains, pumps, cannon carriages and anchors up to four tons in weight. The Crowley works were regarded as the largest manufactory of the kind in Europe.It still has one of the oldest forges remaining in existence, built c1690.
External links
* [http://www.blaydon.frankgillings.com/ Photos and video of Blaydon & Winlaton 1960s]
* [http://rcdhn.org.uk/churches/winlaton_st_annes.htm St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Winlaton]
* [http://www.winlatonhistory.org.uk/ Winlaton Local History Society]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
