Guns and Chaldrons

THE quantity of iron they work up is very great, employing three ships to the Baltic, that each make ten voyages yearly, and bring 70 tons at a time, which amounts to 2100 tons, besides 500 tons more freighted in others. They use a good deal of American iron, which is as good as any Swedish, and for some purposes much better. They would use more of it, if larger quantities were to be had, but they cannot get it.*

They manufacture anchors as high as 70 cwt, carriages of cannon, hoes, spades, axes, hooks, chains, &c. &c.. In general their greatest work is for exportation, and are employed very considerably by the East India Company: they have of late had a prodigious artillery demand from that Company. During the war their business was extremely great:* it was worse upon the peace; but for anchors and mooring chains the demand these last 7 or 8 years has been very regular and spirited. Their business in general, for some time past, has not been equal to what it was in the war.*

abridged

Abridged from ‘A Six Months Tour Through The North Of England’ Volume 3 (2nd ed., 1770) by Arthur Young (1741-1820).

* Young’s informants could not explain to him why, though he was very curious the know the reason.

* The Seven Years War of 1756-1763 saw Britain and France go head-to-head not only in Europe but also in North America, the Caribbean and India, where fighting spread to the British East India Company’s garrisons and trade centres. The outbreak of peace was hitting the profits of another North East industry at this time, sword-making. See The Hollow Blade Sword Company.

* After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, demand for armaments dropped off again and this time the Crowley ironworks never fully recovered. Ironically, given the labourers’ reputation for radical politics, the works had relied on monopolising Government contracts, and when demand fell and competition opened up in the Victorian era the works began to struggle, and they closed in 1872. Newcastle’s armaments industry was picked up by Sir William Armstrong, who founded his Elswick works on the other side of the Tyne in 1847. The Swalwell site was home to the buildings of Derwenthaugh Coke Works from 1928 to 1986, and is now Derwenthaugh Park; but in Church Street, Winlaton, a small cottage forge dating back to 1691 remains as testimony to the vanished industry.

Précis
In his diary, Young went on to record the impressive scale of business at Crowley’s ironworks in Winlaton, importing iron from Sweden and America, and manufacturing a wide range of tools and military supplies for clients such as the Navy and the East India Company. However, this meant that Crowley’s did not relish peacetime as others did.
Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What did Crowley’s ironworks at Winlaton manufacture?

Suggestion

Products ranged from spades to gun carriages.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Crowley’s used iron ore from Sweden. American iron was better for some purposes. They could not get it so easily.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IObtain. IIPrefer.

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