ironmaking founded 1864 defunct 1980 headquarters consett county durham products iron and steel net income 673 million 1900 owner british steel corporation 1967 number of employees 6000 1892 website http www.dmm.org.uk company c002.htm the consett iron company ltd was an industrial business based in the consett area of county durham in the united kingdom . the company owned coal mines and limestone quarries and manufactured iron and steel . it was registered on 4 april 1864 as successor to the derwent & consett iron company ltd. this in turn was the successor to the derwent iron company founded in 1840 . the company s seven collieries and various coke ovens came into the ownership of the national coal board when british coal companies were nationalised in 1947 . the consett iron company itself was nationalised in 1951 becoming part of the iron and steel corporation of great britain . it was denationalised shortly afterwards then renationalised in 1967 . british steel consett works was closed in 1980 . the consett iron company was absorbed into british steel corporation in 1967 and the location became known as the consett steel works . contents 1 early history 2 success under william jenkins 3 twentieth century 4 closed 5 notes 6 references 7 sources 8 further reading 9 external links 9.1 general 9.2 children s early history edit in 1840 a group of local businessmen led by jonathan richardson set up the first of several iron companies in consett county durham the derwent iron company to quarry and smelt ironstone around the town . 1 2 2 the best local ironstone with the highest iron content was exhausted soon after so the company arranged for extensions to the local railways such as the stockton and darlington railway . these allowed it to access new sources of ironstone including from 1851 onwards ore from the cleveland ironstone formation near eston cleveland . 3 a by 1857 consett iron company owed the failed northumberland and durham district bank almost a million pounds . b it was put up for sale but an attempted sale to the newly formed derwent and consett iron company fell through . 2 2 on 4 april 1864 after operating for several years under the threat of bankruptcy a new consett iron company ltd was formed 5 6 with capital of 400 000 . this was divided into 40 000 shares priced initially at 10 each 2 2 with j. priestman as managing director . two local members of parliament henry fenwick and john henderson were among the directors . it became the owner of 18 blast furnaces . the company had the capacity to produce 80 000 tons of pig iron and 50 000 tons of finished iron per year . it also owned a thousand workers cottages and 500 acres of land . 2 2 success under william jenkins edit william jenkins 1825 1895 general manager from 1869 to 1894 william jenkins was consett iron company s general manager from 1869 to 1894 . under his leadership the company experienced sustained profit for the first time 7 158 8 despite severe fluctuations in market conditions 7 164 such as the industrial depression that took place from the late 1870s to the early 1890s . 9 36 the company retained what at the time were large amounts of capital rather than distributing money to shareholders . as a result it relied less on loans to survive business cycles and had lower interest rates when it did borrow . 7 164 he also provided workers with schools churches a park hospital and other facilities . he died in 1895 . 7 158 the company s share of the british steel market reached a peak of 7.1 % in 1894 falling to 4.2 % by 1910 . 7 154 business historians h.w. richardson and j.m. bass praised jenkins s business judgement and choice of managers . 10 varying profitability at consett iron company 7 170 171 year net profit 000s profit on capital % 1865 39 12 1870 102 24.5 1875 215 33.7 1880 104 15.6 1885 60 8.6 1890 366 38.6 1895 115 8.6 1900 673 38.7 1905 245 13.6 1910 221 12.4 around 1876 railways around the world began to use steel instead of malleable iron for rails . as a result production at consett fell by a third . the company switched production to iron plates demand for which was rising rapidly for shipbuilding . 2 3 in 1882 consett iron company began to switch production again this time to steel plates for shipbuilding using the siemens martin process . 2 3 this uses open hearth furnaces to convert pig iron to steel by burning off excess carbon . the first siemens furnaces at consett came into production in 1883 . 2 3 in 1887 the company began to produce steel in a variety of cross sections such as angle l section steel rolled joists and girders for shipbuilding . for this purpose it created the angle mills on a sixteen acre site able to produce 1500 tons of angles bars and girders per week . 2 4 by 1889 the angle mills site was the largest steel plate factory in the world . 9 231 in 1892 in addition to steelmaking the company had a foundry a mile from consett at crookhall capable of making 150 tons of iron castings per week and a brickworks capable of making around 12 000 bricks per week . the estate had grown to roughly 2 700 workers cottages . the company ran a 16 bed infirmary to treat injured workers . the 6 000 workers were paid an average of 5.33 a month . 2 5 the company continually invested in modern equipment such as a roots blower a powerful air pump that was acquired in 1893 . 11 twentieth century edit william jenkins was succeeded by the manager under him george ainsworth who served as general manager from 1851 until his death in 1894 . 12 9 203 the company initially remained in profit 7 159 but its equipment and technology was not updated due to the lack of available space at consett ; a move was considered but rejected . the company did not switch to electrical power as others had and its technology became obsolete . 9 233 240 by 1924 the company had share capital of 3 500 000 185 million in 2013 terms 13 ; it had also issued 1 500 000 74 million in 2013 terms 13 in debenture stock in may 1922 . 5 in 1938 the company helped to finance the founding of the new jarrow steel company from the old palmers shipbuilding and iron company 1 which had collapsed in 1933 leading to the jarrow march of 1936 . the consett iron company continued production during the second world war using lower quality iron ore . it employed about 12 000 workers at that time . 1 in 1947 all of consett iron company s coal mines were nationalised coming under the control of the national coal board . 1 in 1951 the rest of the consett iron company was nationalised by clement attlee s labour government into the short lived iron and steel corporation of great britain along with all of britain s steelworks . 1 the consett steelworks was privatised in 1955 and a new steel plate mill was opened in 1961 to supply the shipbuilding industry . about 6000 workers were employed at the works at that time . 1 consett steel works was renationalised in 1967 this time by harold wilson s government into the british steel corporation at a time when iron coal and shipbuilding were all in steady decline in britain . 1 by this time british steel had grown complacent was running below capacity and was using obsolete technology . raw material costs for coal and oil were rising and it lacked capital for new manufacturing equipment . government policy to keep employment artificially high increased the organisation s difficulties . 14 closed edit terra novalis stainless steel sculpture beside the coast to coast c2c path at consett . amidst intense debate and large demonstrations by workers and sympathizers consett steel works was closed in 1980 . 15 around 3 000 4 000 workers lost their jobs resulting in an unemployment rate of 35 % in consett twice the national average at the time . 15 16 the sky over consett which had long been famous for its thick haze of red iron oxide dust thrown up by the steelworks cleared 17 as did the cloud of steam typically found around the tall cooling towers and chimneys . 18 19 some consett steel workers took part in the demolition . 20 almost all traces of the consett steelworks have been removed . 21 22 only the terra novalis sculptures pictured made with materials from the site recall past industry . 21 employment gradually returned to the area in the following decade with a more diversified industrial base . 23 notes edit in 1842 the company bought the southern section of the former stanhope and tyne railway from the company to enable it to access new sources of ironstone . after the west durham railway constructed a line to crook the stockton and darlington railway s & dr began construction of the weardale extension railway to crook which opened on 8 november 1843 from a junction on its leased weardale railway . 4 as a result the derwent iron company proposed an extension from crook to the foot of the meeting slacks incline which latter became waskerley station to provide a southern shipping route for their lime and iron products and to give access to more ironstone . having obtained an extension of their right of way from the bishop of durham the derwent iron company submitted the plans to the s & dr who agreed to the extension as long as the derwent iron company leased the entire southern section of the former s & tr to them . the stanhope to carrhouse section passed into the possession of the s & dr on 1 january 1845 with the completed 10 miles 16 km weardale extension railway from the wear valley junction to waskerley opening on 16 may 1845 . 4 this corresponds to a purchasing power of 98 million in 2013 using the bank of england s inflation calculator . references edit a b c d e f g consett iron co . grace s guide . 4 may 2012 . retrieved 14 may 2012 . a b c d e f g h i jenkins william 1892 . description of the consett iron works . newcastle on tyne mawson swan & morgan . page nos refer to online pages e.g. 2 means early history . marley john 1856 . neimme transactions volume 5 . cleveland ironstone . outline of the main or thick stratified bed its discovery application and results in connection with the iron works in the north of england . north of england institute of mining engineers . p. 168 . retrieved 14 may 2012 . a b stanhope and tyne railway . disused stations . retrieved 18 march 2013 . a b consett iron co. ltd. . durham mining museum . retrieved 13 october 2014 . consett iron co ltd . discovery . the national archives . retrieved 13 october 2014 . a b c d e f g kenneth tucker 1977 . cite error invalid ref tag ; name tucker defined multiple times with different content see the help page . cite error invalid ref tag ; name tucker defined multiple times with different content see the help page . consett photos . william jenkins . consett history . 6 march 2012 . retrieved 14 may 2012 . a b c d wilson 1973 richardson and bass page 157 . jenkins william 2008 . consett iron works in 1893