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Local Information for Consett

The town of Consett owes its growth to the manufacture of iron and later, iron and steel. When the Derwent Iron Company was formed in 1841, the transformation of what was originally a rural scene of a farm or two and some thatched cottages began.

The town is perched on the steep eastern bank of the River Derwent and owes its origins to industrial development arising from lead mining in the area, together with the development of the steel industry in the Derwent Valley.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Derwent Valley was the cradle of the British steel industry, helped by the easy availability of coal from Tyneside, and the import of high quality iron ore from Sweden via the port of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The closure of the British Steel works at Consett in 1980 marked the end of the Derwent Valley steel heritage, and the decline of the town of Consett. Regeneration in the 1990s, through Project Genesis went some way to repair the damage done...More