Tow
Law & District History Society
1989
- 2022
As of 2022 the Society
has been disbanded.
The Collection of photographs,
books and ephemera has been transferred to the Weardale
Museum
An archived
version of the Societies web site can be viewed at
https://web.archive.org/web/20230202120718/https://towlawhistory.webs.com/
Tow Law –
From 1841
Tow Law is a small Township situated in an area of fringe moor
land, on the eastern approaches to the Pennine Hills in the west of County
Durham, some 10 miles from Durham City and intersected by the main A68 road.
Despite its unpromising location – the town being at more than 1,000 feet above
sea level on an exposed site - its growth during the last century had been
rapid. In 1841 only one building stood in the locality, called Tow Law House,
but by 1851 the population of the town stood at almost 2,000. By the early
1870’s the population had reached 4,968 reaching a peak in 1881 of 5,005
inhabitants.
The founding
architect of this growth was one Charles Attwood who in 1845 established an
Iron Works near to this solitary house to take advantage of the Iron Ore to be
found in upper Weardale and of the coal reserves in
and around Tow Law.
Six blast
furnaces were erected for the smelting of the ironstone and the firm became
known as "Weardale Iron and Coal Company".
A large Colliery was sunk a little to the north of the area to which the
Company gave the name ‘Black Prince’. Other mines were quickly sunk and took
the names of Royal George, Old Thornley, Hedley Hope
and West Edward. A number of these Collieries had Coke-ovens and Brick works
attached.
It’s of passing
interest to note that the merchant-banking house of Baring Brothers financed
the expansion of the Tow Law Iron Works.
By 1860
Inkerman and West Thornley Collieries had begun, both
having coke works attached. With such a large amount of coal near the surface
several drift mines were also in production.
One purpose of
the industrial venture at Tow Law was to manufacture rails and chairs for the
Railways, which were being constructed at that time, and particularly for those
projected in America. Thomas Baring while visiting North America in 1852
commended the products of the Weardale Iron and Coal
Company to ironmasters in New England, but with so much promise and so much
sound finance behind the venture it is sad to relate that it did not prosper.
The demise of
the Tow Law Iron Works was complete by the year 1882 with all of the Iron and
Steel products now being produced by the Weardale
Iron and Coal Company at their Tudhoe works at near Spennymoore. The company continued with their mining
interests, Black Prince Colliery continued intermittently until the early
1920’s, and West Thornley until the 1932. At the peak
of prosperity Black Prince employed over 600 men working four coal seams and
over 1,000 men were employed at the Ironworks. The last deep mine in the town
‘Inkerman’ closed in 1969.
It is
interesting to recall that during the Crimean War of 1853 cannon balls used in
that conflict were made from Tow Law Iron, and the small hamlet to the east of
the town called Inkerman takes its name from the battle of Inkerman.
While the Weardale Iron and Coal Company rose and fell, it fell to a
Mr. Joseph Bond to carry on iron making in the town. He had the enterprise to
establish his Castle Foundry and Patent Steel Work’s in 1868, and indeed Bond’s
Foundry Company is still here today. So too are the steel works of George Blair
and Company, founded in 1941 just to the north of Tow Law. Both are less
pretentious that the undertakings of the Weardale
Company but have continued to give work. The Banks Group of Land Mineral Estate
Developers formed in 1976 have also been a source of employment in the town.
The railway,
under the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company, was one of the first
developments in Tow Law. The line lead from Crook and Bishop Auckland in one
direction and Consett in the other. The railway-line
to Consett carried its last passengers in 1957. In
the early 1960’s passenger traffic to Crook and Bishop Auckland ceased. The
railway finally closed in 1965, the line and buildings removed and Alpine Way
Estate built on the site of the station and sidings.