In a steep, wooded dene where the Lumley Park Burn cuts dramatically through the sandstone beneath the towering concrete roof of the A1M flyover is Lumley Forge, quiet now but one of several sites on tributaries of the River Wear that were processing iron in the 18th century.
Although there may have been activity on it beforehand, the site first appeared in documents in 1779 when it was purchased by William Hawks whose father had been a smith at Ambrose Crowley’s Winlaton ironworks and whose company – Hawkes & Co – would become one of the biggest iron manufacturers in the North East in the 19th century supplying chains, cables, anchors and plate for shipping and iron for Newcastle’s High Level Bridge and Sunderland’s Wearmouth Bridge.
Three ‘balling’ or reheating furnaces together with known ancillary equipment such as blowers, tilt hammers and waterwheels reprocessed scrap iron that was bought cheaply as ballast from the colliers visiting the Tyne and the Wear. In its time the site produced a range of iron (and brass) goods including shovels, anvils, bar iron, nails and chains and is known to have re-forged the boiler of Timothy Hackworth’s ‘Royal George’, the world’s first commercially viable goods locomotive.
In 1855 a fire destroyed much of the site shortly after Hawks & Co had left and it was rebuilt as a charcoal manufactory and barley mill. Thereafter it became a stove and boot blacking company before being abandoned, then finally demolished and cleared in the 1930s.
Thanks to the efficiency of its clearance the only archaeological evidence left to remind us of this early location of County Durham’s iron and steel industry is a crescent weir, sluice, overflow channel, machine beds and revetment wall which in itself is notable for the use of ‘mossers’ or lumps of furnace slag substituted for the usual brick or stone – a practice that is apparently quite rare in the North East.
Today this peaceful tract of woodland continues to be improved and is a particularly contemplative feature of the Weardale Way. In 2012 a fish-pass was integrated on the Lumley Park Burn to allow salmon and sea-trout access to spawning grounds on its upper reaches. The geology here, like much of Durham, is susceptible to subsidence particularly after heavy rain and in 2013 the road below the hairpin to the north of the site suffered a dramatic slippage that required major repairs. This, in all likelihood, won’t be the last time and it’s just one more example of the considerable erosion that we’re witnessing in this 21st century climate.
Middleton, Penny. ‘Lumley Forge: A little piece of Durham’s industrial heritage tucked away below the A1 flyover’. Archaeology County Durham, Issue 8 2013: Durham County Council
Katika mteremko, msituni dene ambapo Lumley Park Burn kukata kwa kasi kupitia mchanga chini ya paa la saruji ya A1M flyover ni Lumley Forge, utulivu sasa lakini moja ya maeneo kadhaa juu ya vijito vya Mto Wear kwamba walikuwa kusindika chuma katika karne ya 18. Ingawa huenda kulikuwa na shughuli juu yake kabla, tovuti kwanza alionekana katika nyaraka katika 1779 wakati ni kununuliwa na William Hawks ambaye baba alikuwa fundi katika Ambrose Crowley ya Winthrop Ironworks na ambaye kampuni Hawkes & Co itakuwa moja ya wazalishaji kubwa chuma katika Kaskazini Mashariki katika karne ya 19 kusambaza minyororo, cables, nanga na sahani kwa ajili ya usafirishaji na chuma kwa Newcastle High Level Bridge na Sunderland Bridge. Vituo vitatu vya 'kuchoma' au kupasha moto pamoja na vifaa vya ziada vinavyojulikana kama vile blowers, hammers tilt na magurudumu ya maji yalibadilisha chuma cha chuma ambacho kilinunuliwa kwa bei nafuu kama ballast kutoka kwa wachimbaji wa makaa ya mawe wanaotembelea Tyne na Wear. Katika wakati wake tovuti zinazozalishwa mbalimbali ya chuma (na shaba) bidhaa ikiwa ni pamoja na shovels, anvils, bar chuma, misumari na minyororo na inajulikana kuwa re-forged boiler ya Timothy Hackworth ya 'Royal George', dunia ya kwanza kibiashara viable bidhaa locomotive. Mwaka 1855 moto uliharibu sehemu kubwa ya eneo hilo baada ya kampuni ya Hawks & Co kuondoka na lilijengwa upya kama kiwanda cha makaa ya mawe na kiwanda cha kusaga shayiri. Baada ya hapo ikawa kampuni ya kuchoma moto na boot kabla ya kuachwa, kisha hatimaye kuharibiwa na kusafishwa katika miaka ya 1930. "Kwa sababu ya ufanisi wa uondoaji wake, ushahidi pekee wa kiakiolojia uliobaki kutukumbusha juu ya eneo hili la mapema la viwanda vya chuma na chuma vya Kaunti ya Durham ni ""mashimo ya nusu mwezi, mlango, mfereji wa kufurika, vitanda vya mashine na ukuta wa revetment"" ambayo yenyewe ni ya kushangaza kwa matumizi ya ""mossers"" au vipande vya chokaa cha chokaa badala ya matofali au mawe ya kawaida - mazoezi ambayo ni dhahiri nadra sana katika Kaskazini Mashariki." Leo eneo hilo lenye amani la misitu linaendelea kuboreshwa na ni sehemu ya njia ya Weardale Way inayotumiwa hasa kwa ajili ya kutafakari. Katika mwaka wa 2012, mto wa samaki ulijumuishwa kwenye Mto wa Lumley Park Burn ili kuruhusu samaki wa samaki na samaki wa bahari kupata maeneo ya kuzaliana kwenye sehemu ya juu ya mto. Jengo hilo, kama sehemu kubwa ya Durham, lina uwezekano wa kuanguka hasa baada ya mvua kubwa na mwaka 2013 barabara iliyo chini ya hairpin kaskazini mwa eneo hilo ilipatwa na mlipuko mkubwa ambao ulihitaji ukarabati mkubwa. Hii, kwa uwezekano wote, haitakuwa mara ya mwisho na ni mfano mmoja zaidi wa uharibifu mkubwa ambao tunashuhudia katika hali ya hewa ya karne ya 21. Middleton, Penny. <unk>Lumley Forge: Kipande kidogo cha urithi wa viwanda wa Durham uliofichwa chini ya flyover ya A1<unk>. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya ""Archaeology County Durham: Issue 8 2013: Durham County Council"""