Ambrose Crowley-Winlaton ironworks

[Mr. Tibbs]

Hi Pat

That's a huge number of Ambroses within one family although having said that, the tradition was to call the elder sons and daughters after the grandparents.  That lasted until the early twentieth century in my family and, particularly the BELT family, and it is very difficult, at times, to work out who is who.

The SPOORS did very well as quite a lot of families did in Ambrose Crowley's time.  He asked high standards of his employees and so his workers were in demand.  Indeed, the whole area prospered as the works expanded so that other occupations like shopkeepers saw their profit margin rise.

The problems came after well over one hundred years, when the ironworks closed: Winlaton people (and Swalwell and Winlaton Mill) were pretty much dependent on Crowleys for employment, education, medical matters, religious services, pensions ...  Crowleys had supplied and paid for, all that they felt was necessary to get the best from their workforce.  I can't imagine the workers' confusion as they adjusted to a very different lifestyle.

I

[Matt R]

My Corking's seem to have been anchorsmith's working at Crowley's factory. They were there in Swallwell from c1770-c1830, and then they appear in Bishopwearmouth.

This thread is very interesting, thankyou

Matt.

[Riddlebrick]

I have recently been researching my husbands family and his 4x great grandfather John Cowen worked at Crowley Iron Works in Winlaton

I have been advised that John Cowen was in a management position there when the works was closed down and the various departments became the subjects of management buy-outs.

In around 1816 he established a works at Blaydon Burn, in partnership with Anthony Forster, his future son-in-law, to make fire-bricks and gas retorts.

I would also love to know more if anyone finds how we would find any employee records.

Regards

Emma

[Mr. Tibbs]

Hello Matt
Pleased to hear from you    My TENCH family had at least one son working at Swalwell in the early 1800s but they seemed to move on too, like your CORKING ancestor.  Certainly, one TENCH is in Newcastle upon Tyne by 1816.  I wonder if this was the period when the factories were reducing their numbers of employees prior to closing down altogether?  Do you know what was at Bishopwearmouth?  Ambrose CROWLEY'S original factory was based in Sunderland, in fact, I think it was Bishopwearmouth.  I'll have to look it up again.
Pat

[Mr. Tibbs]

I am thrilled to bits to meet up with another two members with links to the Crowley Ironworks within a day of each other .  I had no idea that the COWEN family had any connection with Ambrose CROWLEY.  I do remember the brickworks belonging to the COWEN family at Blaydon Staiths (I think): the outlet of Blaydon Burn into the River Tyne.  My ancestors used to carry the bricks by cart and later by lorry to various destinations.
One of my teachers at junior school  (Miss Hutchinson) used to tell us stories Jane COWEN'S good works: helping the poorer families and entertaining soldiers during WW2.
I am no further forward with information about the employees of Ambrose CROWLEY.  It has been suggested to me that all records were destroyed.  However, someone else thought it might be worth tracking down the CROWLEY females, who inherited the firm I assume as silent partners (I should know more about this but it is such a long time since I read the book "Men of Iron") on the premise that Ambrose CROWLEY, being a man who looked to the detail, there would be copies.  Lastly, I have made no extensive search of the Durham Records Office.
Good to hear from you.
Pat

[Matt R]

Hi Pat,

It is good to make connections sometimes even where there is no blood. This thread is a great example of that. It puts alot of flesh on the bones of our ancestors' daily lives, eh?

I believe my Thomas Corkin/g may have moved to Bishopwearmouth due to his daughter marrying a glass bottle maker who worked in Sunderland. I know shipyards in particular gave Bishopwearmouth most of it's trade (aswell as bottlemaking) so Thomas as an ancorsmith may have gone to work with the ships being built here at this time. He is in Bishopwearmouth in 1841 and stays here until his death in 1852. After this, I find no more smiths in the family. They ALL went into shipbuilding, right up until the 1920's, when my gt grandfather decided to be a footballer

Matt.

[Riddlebrick]

Do we know where in Winlaton the works were? Just so I can get a feeling for it.  I know where they were in Swalwell given that the chimney still survives in Lidl's carpark and the archaeological excavation that was undertaken there.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Hi Matt

It would be quite a coincidence if your CORKING family had started working for Ambrose CROWLEY in his first factory in Sunderland (Low Street, I believe) and then returned to the area to go into shipbuilding.  Some of my TENCH family moved across there too and into shipbuilding.  The lives that they led seem to me to have been very hard and very dangerous.  In my husband's Danskin family, one young man became a widower with two young children.  The children ended up being brought up by their mother's sister because their father became blind (He was a welder.) and lived the rest of his life, some twenty years in the workhouse.
Pat

[Mr. Tibbs]

Hello Emma

I went on a historical walk of Winlaton, last year and it appears that when Ambrose CROWLEY came to Winlaton, a small village with few amenities, he carried out extensive building works resulting in four squares, which, I think, were self contained.  One was Hanover Square and two others may have been Belt's Square and Commercial Square.  Each square may have produced specific ironware, just as each factory at Winlaton, Winlaton Mill and Swalwell did, as the CROWLEY firm expanded.

A really old map of Winlaton (late 1700s-early 1800s) should show the squares.  Later maps show just one: Hanover Square.  I suspect the squares were self contained deliberately so the Ambrose could exercise a tight hold over his employees through his management. 
Pat