Crowley, a Quaker nail-manufacturer from Stourbridge first settled in Sunderland in 1682, then moved in 1691 to Winlaton, where he set up furnaces and forges adjoining two water mills on the River Derwent. The river was ideally suitable for tempering steel as the sword-makers of Shotley Bridge also found (see below). Crowley not only produced high-quality nails, but also iron goods such as pots, hinges, wheel-hubs, hatchets and edged tools. He could also make heavy forgings like chains, pumps, cannon carriages and anchors up to four tons in weight.
Crowley founded two model settlements near his works, where his employees and their families lived in socialist fashion, with welfare services provided - a forerunner of Robert Owen's better-known community at New Lanark in Scotland a century later. There were arbitration courts, sickness insurance, and a resident clergyman, teacher and doctor were employed. North of the bridge at Swalwell are fragments of the Crowley works. The mill race can be traced back through an eccentric garden to a substantial weir with a large sluice. At Winlaton, a building survives, which once had a craftsman's cottage attached - part of Crowley's Hood Square (demolished 1961).
The celebrated William Hawks, originally a blacksmith, started business in Gateshead in 1747, working with the iron brought to the Tyne as ballast by the Tyne colliers. Hawks and Co. eventually became one of the biggest iron businesses in the North, producing anchors, chains and so on to meet a growing demand. There was keen contemporary rivalry between 'Hawks' Blacks' and 'Crowley's Crew'. The famous 'Haak's men' including Ned White, went on to be celebrated in Geordie song and story.
A group of German sword-makers had flourished in Darlington in Cromwell's day, under the leadership of Anton Eastgate, but it was at Shotley Bridge that the families of Mohl and Oley became nationally famous. About the same time as Crowley set up his works at Winlaton and Swalwell, a group of businessmen brought over skilled craftsmen from Sollingen in Germany to begin the manufacture of swords at Shotley Bridge, where the water was excellent for tempering steel. A terrace of two-storey cottages was built in Wood Street (demolished 1950) for them to live in. One house dated from 1691 and two were inscribed in German, referring to Deutschland and Vaterland. The enterprise prospered and lasted into the 19th century.
The extensive remains of Isaac Cookson's works at Derwentcote Forge c 1719-1836, near Hamsterley, include the earliest cementation furnace in England to have survived intact. It allowed the large-scale production of high-quality steel. Until the early 19th century, the Derwentcote area was the leading steel producer in Britain.