Castletown Ironworks
1882 "... following the example of other men, those employed at Messrs. Tysack and Bell's should resume work to-day. The men at Castletown Ironworks have accepted an advance. of 2s. instead of 3s. ...[1]
1885 "CASTLETOWN IRONWORKS. PROPOSAL TO LIQUIDATE. At meeting of the shareholders of the Castletown Ironworks held at the works to-day, Mr Wm. Stobart in the chair, it was decided to issue the special notice to shareholders required by the Act of Parliament ..."[2]
1888 Rumour that the Castletown Ironworks, near Pallion on the Wear, are about to be restarted as steel works. The work have been inoperative for several years. They contain a puddling plant, and mills for rolling plates and angles. It is said that a limited company is to be formed with sufficient capital to put down a steel melting and rolling plant, and three or four blast furnaces. Hematite ore will be imported direct from the Bilbao district or elsewhere, and unloaded close to the works. There would be an excellent local market for the steel produced, and the restarting of the works would be a great advantage to the Wear shipbuilders.[3]
June: Castletown Ironworks, which at one time employed a large number of hands, but which have for months past lain idle, have recently been purchased by Messrs Beardmore and Co., of Glasgow[4]
October: Purchased by the recently formed Wear Steel Company, Limited[5]
By 1897 the steel works had been abandoned; the owners were sinking a coal mine on the site.