The Oley family were makers of the highest quality swords, rivalling those of Toledo, by using Damascus steel, in great demand during the Napoleonic Wars. They became very wealthy. Their steel production facility was one of the earliest factories for manufacture of steel. The Oley family were involved in the formation of the Consett Iron Company. New weapons and industrialization reduced demand for swords so they diversified into other types of cutlery, but could not compete with Sheffield, and the sword works closed in 1840. Some moved to Birmingham and their business eventually became part of Wilkinson Sword. Evidence of this industry includes grooves in the stones of the river, the fine house inscribed "Cutlers Hall, 1767, William Oley" and the name of the public house "The Crown and Crossed Swords". Before the last remaining cottages occupied by the swordmakers were demolished, there was an inscription over the door of the Oley house on Wood Street reading "Das Herren segen machet reich ohn alle Sorg wenn Du zugleich in deinem Stand treu und fleissig bist und tuest alle vas die befolen ist". This means "The blessing of the Lord makes rich without care, so long as you are industrious in your vocation and do what is ordered you". Places of Worship The first mention of a chapel at Shotley is in 1165. This is the site of the (now disused) Anglican parish church, St Andrew's, Shotley, which is high on a hill above the town. It is an eighteenth-century Grade II listed building rebuilt in 1892 because of subsidence due to coal workings below. The current parish church is that of St John at Snod's Edge, also Grade II listed, dating from 1837 when it was founded as a chapel outpost of St Andrew's. There is a Roman Catholic Church, Our Lady of the Rosary (1952), and an Anglican Church, St Cuthbert's (1850), designed by John Dobson, in the Benfieldside area south-east of the main town. The Methodist Church was built in 1894, and closed in 2014. Shotley Bridge Hospital Shotley Bridge Hospital originated with the acquisition of the Whinney House Estate in 1912. The site was initially used as a tuberculosis hospital but served as a facility for the care of people with mental problems being known as "Shotley Bridge Mental Defectives Colony" from 1927 to 1940, when it was converted to an Emergency Hospital to cope with the