Tow Law 1840 1900 (Part 1) Introduction Ronald Storey Introduction Little is known about the Tow Law area prior to 1844, and was described in 1840 as mostly moorland, almost treeless, and extremely exposed to the elements in all directions, by the Bishop of Durham s representative. The area we now know of as Tow Law was originally common or fell land, on the fringe of the Bishop of Durham s hunting park at Wolsingham. The district comprised parts of the Wolsingham, Lanchester and Brancepeth parishes later becoming part of the parish of Thornley from which it was separated in 1863 under the Local Government Board. However, the value of its mines was already recognised before 1600 and coal was being regularly extracted from that time. Mining on a small scale and farming seem to have been the only activities that took place in the area prior to 1844. Tow Law 1840 1900 (Part 2) Charles Attwood and the Weardale Iron Company Charles Attwood and the Weardale Iron Company Little is known about the Tow Law area prior to 1844, and was described in 1840 as mostly moor land, almost treeless, and extremely exposed to the elements in all directions, by the Bishop of Durham s representative. The area we now know of as Tow Law was originally common or fell land, on the fringe of the Bishop of Durham s hunting park at Wolsingham. The district comprised parts of the Wolsingham, Lanchester and Brancepth parishes later becoming part of the parish of
Thornley from which it was separated in 1863 under the Local Government Board. However, the value of its mines was already recognised before 1600 and coal was being regularly extracted from that time. Mining on a small scale and farming seem to have been the only activities that took place in the area prior to 1844. In 1844 the area attracted the interest of one Charles Attwood and the seeds were sown for the building of the Town of Tow Law, as we know it today. Charles Attwood was the son of an iron founder from Halesown in Worcestershire. He first came to the North East in 1810, when he was 19 and became involved in the glass making industry in Gateshead. By 1835 his works had grown and were flourishing but a costly lawsuit and a change in the economic climate saw a decline in the company s fortunes and he turned back to the family trade of iron founding. He was an accomplished mineralogist and could see the potential in the area as a centre of the iron industry with its rich deposits of iron ore in upper Weardale and Tow Law with its prime position on the western edge of the Durham coalfield. With the backing of Baring s Bank of London he formed the Weardale Iron Company, later becoming the Weardale Iron and Coal Company. He became the resident managing partner, although the bank was always the majority shareholder. The company leased the mineral rights for the iron ore over the whole of the Weardale area, thus securing its source of supply. In 1845 the company opened the Black Prince colliery on the fell to the north of Tow Law to supply its blast furnaces with coking coal. The company first blast furnace was opened at Stanhope Dean in 1845, and a further 6 were opened at Tow Law in 1846.
The Iron Works was sites at the bottom of Ironworks road opposite Attwood Place and filled the area up to and what in now the Doctors surgery. To transport the ore from the mines to the works, the company constructed a private rail line between Rookshop and Stanhope that connected with the main line via, Waskerley to Tow Law. To oversee this new venture Attwood build a home and offices opposite the works called Attwood Place, which can still be seen today. He lived their from 1850 to 1962 before building a large house at Wolsingham called Hollywood Hall, were he lived until his death on February 24th 1875. The Company became the major employer, not only in Tow Law but also in the Weardale area. A description on the works contained in Fordyce published in 1859 noted that the company Employed at present at Tow Law and in the Weardale are about 1700 men of whom about half are occupied in raising iron and lead are. They have four blast furnaces of unusually large size and two more nearly ready to blow, each of them capable of producing, according to the different quality afforded by their ores, as wrought near Stanhope or further westward, from 130 to 180 tons and, in some cases, even more, per week. They have also mills and forges for working up the pigs into most varieties of finished iron at Tudhoe: which latter are at presents in the process of enlargement to a scale capable of consuming as much pig iron as the above mentioned number of blast furnaces can make. Meanwhile a considerable part of it is sold for the same purpose of making finishing bar iron to Forges and Mill Master in Yorkshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire, in all which places its superior quality commands remunerating prices, notwithstanding the great distance and cost of carriage. Iron produced at Tow Law was used for such diverse purposes as making girders for the
London Underground, and cannonballs for use in the Crimean War. The Company and especially Charles Attwood wielded huge influences in the Town. Attwood saw himself also as a local patron and benefactor. He arranged for the Company to make gifts not only of land but also of money towards the building of schools and churches for the different religious denominations attracted to the new Town. In 1875 he built for the residents of the town, the Mechanics Institute. This was a large building, which contained a lecture hall, recreations rooms, library and reading room. The library contained over 500 volumes of books donated by Attwood himself. He also supplied it with daily and weekly newspapers and several monthly magazines at a personal cost to himself. The rules of the Institute printed in 1890 show its objects as being an association for the purpose of affording greater facilities that its members could separately command for the acquisition of general knowledge, the cultivation of their intellectual powers and the recreation of both the mind and bodies of its members. Tow Law 1840 1900 (Part 3) Development The establishment of the ironworks and the surrounding collieries led to a rapid rise in the population from just 40 prior to 1844 to 2000 in 1851 and 3000 by 1854. At its height in about 1900 Tow Law supported a population of about 5000 people. The first major concern was to provide the population with housing. Prior to 1840 the only habitation in the Tow Law area was a solitary farmhouse, which was known by that name Tow Law House. By 1842, some small Gin Pits were working on the upper part of Tow Law fell with a few low huts or cabins, as they were called. Two stood
near the site of the present Catholic Church, their walls were of stone, built to height of eight or nine feet, and roofed with red titles and earth floors. Many of the homes built after 1844 were poorly built, being thrown up to provide a quick solution to a shortage of housing by spec builder. Not all homes were like this however. The Weardale Company built some of the first substantial houses, namely Baring Street, Thornley Terrace, Granby Terrace and Keepers Row. Baring Street, now the site of Baring Courts, was named after Bishop Baring and had been earlier called mechanics Cottages. It was a double row of well dressed stone homes. There were a total of thirty five homes built in three rows. Between the rows were single earth closets (toilets) flanked on either side by coalhouses and shared by two families. Each house was a one up one down with a large living room downstairs and one bedroom upstairs. There was no bathroom or running water, no kitchen and all cooking was done on an open fire or cast iron range with a boiler at the side for hot water. The census of 1851 showed that, although some of the houses were occupied by one family, 14 houses were home to two families each, 13 others had several lodgers. In all 257 people lived in this one street. In the early days the Company provided everything, work, homes, scavenging (sewage clearance), water and medical aid. There was no comprehensive drainage system or piped water into homes, most sewage had to collected manually and water had to be collected from a central tank. The supply of water was eventually taken over by the Weardale and Shildren water Company, though it was many years before every home had access to its own supply. It became clear that the Company could and did not intend to carry on being responsible for the welfare of all the citizens of Tow Law. Indeed with the progressive industrialism of the
district and the increasing population conditions were rapidly becoming mature for the development of a better local administration. So on October 27th 1863 the Tow Law Local Board was created under the provisions of the Local Government Act of 1858. At a meeting in the Mechanics Hall, William Elliot, a mining engineer (for the Weardale Iron Company), declared and certified that nine inhabitants of Tow Law had been appointed as members of Tow Law Local Board. The Board proceeded to elect a Chairman, Clerk, Treasurer and Surveyor. Only two people were paid, the Clerk 20 per annum and the Surveyor 3s 6d per day (7am to 7pm). Arrangements were made to rent a front cottage in the High Street for offices at a yearly rent of 6 10s. The Clerk was authorised to obtain a Seal for the use of the Board. The first District Rate was levied on 26th January 1864 and was fixed at 6d in the on houses and 1½d in the on land. A Bondsman (rate collector) was appointed to collect the said rates. The product of the first rate for the district amounted to 165:17s:11d. Tow Law 1840 1900 (Part 4) Churches and chapels The religious organisations were quick to establish themselves in the town readily to minister to the spiritual needs of the population. By 1846 both the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapel were built at Dan s Castle. Both these chapels had small Sunday schools attached. Next came the Presbyterian Church in 1863 at the end of Bridge Street. It was built in the French Gothic Style to seat 200, with ministers house attached. The congregation had until this time met in the Mechanics Institute.
Originally Tow Law formed part of the chapelry of Thornley and the Church at Thornley provided services for the Anglican community. With building of the National School at Tow Law this meant that the schoolroom could be licensed for public worship. Also a piece of land to the side, in addition to the burying ground at Thornley, was consecrated for internments. This arrangement continued until 1863, when Tow Law formed its own governing parish. The building of St Philips and St James was completed in 1869 and Tow Law became a fully separated parish in 1878. The Catholic Parish at Tow Law was also originally part of an adjoining parish. After 1870 services were held in the school, which also doubled as a chapel. This building was later enlarged by adding a north aisle in 1875 and was then used exclusively as a church dedicated to our Lady and St Joseph. Behind the Church was the Convent of St Joseph of the Sisters of Mercy who taught at the school. The Salvation Army was the last Church to settle in the Town. They finally built a citadel for themselves at the bottom of Castle Bank in 1884. Tow Law 1840 1900 (Part 5) School and education The Work provided the homes built, schools were needed for the children of the families settling in the Town. The first school built was the National school in 1849 at Dan s Castle, to accommodate 400 pupils. The land was given by the Weardale Iron Company together with a grant of 300 towards the building costs of 1,000. A good description of the school was given in Fordyce in 1859 the dimensions of the school rooms are boys, 50ft x 25ft, girls, 30ft x 25ft: the main classroom 19ft x 25ft and attached to the school is a convenient dwelling house containing eight rooms.
The education was very rudimentary. Parents paid a penny per week for each child to attend school and children attended between the ages of 5 and 6 up to the ages of 10, the age at which boys could legally start work in the pits. Attendance or should we say lack of it was an ongoing problem at Tow Law. Fordyce gives an account of a government inspector s visit to the National school on 6th July 1853 there were 116 children present at examination, 169 had left during the preceding twelve months, 230 had been admitted in the same period. The Inspector went on to note the low attendance rate for the school and gave the rates of pay for boys in the local industries as follows: Boys under 9 at the Foundry 3 4 shillings per week Boys under 10 at the pits or brick works 6 shillings per week Boys under 13 at the pits 7/6 to 15/ per week These high rats of remunerations said the Inspector are attended with very serious evils: they are in fact, the one great hindrance to the elementary education for the children of the working classes. Employment is so plentiful and wages so high, that the education of a child is set aside for the weekly return of his labour. Later, other schools were opened, A Wesleyan school in 1859 with accommodation for 400 children and, in 1870 St Joseph s Catholic School, with accommodation for 600 children. By the turn of the century attendance rates had improved greatly. The average attendance at the National School being given as 230 and the average attendance at St Joseph s Catholic School given 208 in Mixed School and 103 in the Infants School. The Wesleyan school was also reported to be fully attended.
Tow Law 1840 1900 (Part 6) Collieries The Collieries The first recorded person to mine in the Tow Law area was a Ralph Chapman in 1840. He sunk various shafts on the Hedley or Cornsay Fell, this type of mining was called Gin Shafts. These gins shafts were constructed with upright pieces of timber with a large drum at the top. To the upright, a horizontal beam, called a start was attached some two or three feet from the ground, and then attached to a horse or horses by means of a saddle bridle. The horse walked round and round, in circular track, or gin gan as it was termed, thus turning the rope drum above, and so wound or unwound the coil of rope. The ropes from the drum passed over pulleys erected on frames over the pit shafts, and to the end of each rope spring hooks were spliced, and by these the corf (Coal Containers) was fastened to the rope. A corf was made of hazel sticks woven together, which could be fastened to the bogiewheels, and so be moved from place to place at the bottom of the shaft, or slung on to the rope and brought with its contents to the surface. Another person who mined coal by this method was a William Brown, who sank shafts and worked out the coal in various parts of the fell nearer to Inkerman. The next person to sink one of these gin shafts was Ralph Johnson: his shaft was near the mains street at the top of Dan s Castle. This was in later years the site of the old Dan s Castle Colliery. In 1844 the Weardale Iron Company sank the Black Prince Colliery on the Tow Law Fell. This was to be the largest in the town and at its high in the 1870 s employed over 600. It along with the Dan s Castle which was sunk the same year utilised, the Ballarat, Five Quarter, Main Coal seams. The Dan s Castle by 1852 had closed due to water drainage problems.
By 1851 a number of collieries had been sunk on or near the Tow Law fell. The Lady Jane, which was sunk by John Pickard, who also had brick works in the same area. A little to the west, Blackfield colliery was sunk by a Messer s Brown and Ruddock. The next large colliery to be opened 1847 was Hedley Hope Colliery; this took over the royalty of the Lady Jane Colliery and employed over 400 people at one time, working the Brockwell and Ballarat seams of coal. Next we have Inkerman Colliery which was sunk in 1862 little was to the north of Tow Law. This colliery employed over 300 at its height, and was the last deep mine to be worked in Tow Law finally closing on 28th June 1969. West Thornley Colliery was sited between Tow Law and Sunnyside and was sunk in the early 1870. At its high it employed well over 400 people and was to continue in many form s until the late 1930 s. West Thornley was the last deep mine to be opened in the Tow Law area; other mines of the drift type were to come and go over the years, but one of them were of the any great size. In 1882 the Weardale Iron Company took the decision to closed the Iron Works and Blast Furnaces at Tow Law and concentrate their efforts at Tudhoe near Spennymoor. By the time very few were employed in the works and most took up employment in the local mines. Iron making did not come to end in the town for in 1862 a Joseph Bond had established an iron works at the bottom of Castle Bank. This was not on the same scale as Attwood s, but was to flourish and is still going today. In 1882, Mr J Vickers established a thriving Auction Mart adjacent to the Railway Good Yard at the bottom of Castle Bank. In 1890, at the annual sheep sale over 6000 sheep were sold in a day. A grand lot of half bred ewes topped the market at 47s 6d each; black faced ewes
making up to 28s 6d with mule lamps making 18s 6d each. The Auction Mart is still trading today. In 1894 Tow Law became a fully fledged urban district Council with the election of 8 councillors. It was in fact the smallest Urban District in England, and was to continue so until its amalgamation with other district authorities in the early 1970 s. As the year 1900 came into being this small town had grown from 42 people in 1840 to 4,833 at the closed of the 18th century, indeed it was never to exceed this population peak. While the definitive history of Tow Law still remains to be written I hope these notes have given an inkling of what it may have been like to live in Tow Law during the years 1840 to 1900. Digitised by the Ferryhill Group Note: The views that are expressed on the website are the contributors own and not necessarily those of Durham County Council. This is a community website so no guarantee can be given of the historical accuracy of individual contributions