7 Days a week
The Land of Oak & Iron Heritage Centre is set within the beautiful steep-sided Derwent Valley, with an abundance of natural woodland, rare and iconic wildlife and a hidden heritage of British sword making and a world leading iron and steel industry.
Authentic Heritage, History, Heroes & Habitats
Land of Oak & Iron covers 177 km2 of the beautiful and historic Derwent Valley & surrounding areas, including Consett, Rowlands Gill, Prudhoe and Whickham, making it one of the North East’s most rewarding & exciting areas to explore.
The area was once a cradle of the Industrial Revolution, with a booming iron & steel industry. Abundant good-quality and accessible coal reserves led to the valley being heavily mined; waggonways, built to get the coal to market, criss-crossed the land. Nowadays, whilst industrial remains still scatter the landscape, nature has reclaimed the environment, creating a rich patchwork of woodlands, riverbanks & grasslands; attracting otters, deer & red kites. It is hard to imagine just how heavily industrialised the area once was.
At the heart of the Land of Oak & Iron is the Heritage Centre in Winlaton Mill – here you can enjoy events, creative workshops, guided walks & talks, along with the local delights our café & shop have to offer. There’s something for everyone – so come and discover what makes the Derwent Valley the perfect destination to visit.
Europe’s largest iron manufactory was established here in 1691 by the great industrialist Ambrose Crowley, at the same time as a secret colony of expert sword makers from Germany set up home in Shotley Bridge. For the next three hundred years, the valley was an important centre of the iron and steel industry: Derwenthaugh coke works belched its last fiery dragon into the air only in the 1980s! It’s all so difficult to believe when we look around this area of outstanding natural beauty!
Such industry brought wealth to the area, notably to the Bowes family of Gibside, where George Bowes created one of the finest C18th landscape gardens in England, including a Palladian chapel designed by James Paine, who was also the architect of Axwell Hall. Despite her dramatic personal story, Mary Eleanor Bowes became one of the foremost patrons of natural science and the first woman to win back her property after divorce. Other luminaries of the area include naturalist and printmaker Thomas Bewick, Tommy Armstrong the ‘Pitman Poet’, oarsman Harry Clasper, composer William Shield, and the world-famous exponents of the traditional local rapper dancing who once appeared at the Albert Hall!
The Land of Oak & Iron Celebration Film
Local Communities and Partners
As part of the charity Groundwork NE & Cumbria, the Land of Oak & Iron Heritage Centre works with local communities and partners, to celebrate, conserve and enhance the natural, industrial and cultural heritage of this area. Alongside our partners, including the Land of Oak & Iron Trust, we aim to create a legacy for regeneration and local economic development, which enhances heritage and increases prosperity.
As part of the charity we welcome donations which helps to support our work aiming to improve peoples prospects, create better places and encourage greener choices.
Groundwork NE & Cumbria has a mission to support our local communities, mobilise practical community action on poverty, the environment and climate change.
We’d especially like to thank the local community who regularly visit us, attend our events and make donations at the Land of Oak & Iron Heritage Centre. Your contributions make a big difference. In the last year we fundraised enough to purchase and install a defibrillator at the Heritage Centre for use by the full local community.
Key Partners
Funders
