Craig Suddick

Consett Iron Works Craig Suddick

Caught between the constant changes in company structure, strikes and the regular opening and closing of parts of the Consett Iron Works, life in and around Consett was hard and it should surprise no-one that it was a dangerous and often deadly place to work. Although the 20 miles of railway tracks, 64 boilers and more than 80 furnaces that existed in 1860 (and which increased in number as time went on) were the three main contributors of death and injury, the whole of the iron making process, from start to finish, was a dangerous and often deadly undertaking. Between 1850 and 1900, with the use of contemporary newspaper reports, the author has identified more than 50 fatal events and many injuries which occurred at the Consett Iron Works and its associated works. This book looks at each of these deaths and injuries to give a flavour of what life was like at one of the biggest iron works of its time.