Consett Iron Company

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. 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. By 1857, Consett Iron Company owed the failed Northumberland and Durham District Bank almost a million pounds. It was put up for sale, but an attempted sale to the newly formed Derwent and Consett Iron Company fell through. with capital of £400,000. This was divided into 40,000 shares priced initially at £10 each, with Jonathan Priestman II 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. == Success under William Jenkins ==

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, despite severe fluctuations in market conditions, Business historians H. W. Richardson and J. M. Bass praised Jenkins's business judgement and choice of managers. 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. == Twentieth century ==

William Jenkins was succeeded by the manager under him, George Ainsworth, who served as general manager from 1851 until his death in 1894. The company initially remained in profit,); it had also issued £1,500,000 (£74 million in 2013 terms == Closure ==

Amidst intense debate and large demonstrations by workers and sympathizers, Consett Steel Works was closed in 1980. The sky over Consett, which had long been famous for its thick haze of red iron oxide dust thrown up by the steelworks, cleared as did the cloud of steam typically found around the tall cooling towers and chimneys. Some Consett steel workers took part in the demolition. Almost all traces of the Consett steelworks have been removed. Only the Terra Novalis sculptures (pictured), made with materials from the site, recall past industry. ==Notes==