Winlaton is a village situated in the

Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Tyne and Wear, Ryton, Felling (UK), Felling, Birtley, Tyne and ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

, England. Historically in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, it was incorporated into the metropolitan county of

and Borough of Gateshead in 1974. In 2011 the village was absorbed into the Gateshead MBC ward of Winlaton and High Spen. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 8,342. Winlaton was once at the centre of the local steel industry. Ambrose Crowley, a Quaker nail-manufacturer, moved in 1691 to Winlaton. He set up furnaces and forges there and on the River Derwent at Winlaton Mill. The river was ideally suitable for tempering steel, as the sword-makers of

Shotley Bridge Shotley Bridge is a village, adjoining the town of Consett to the south in County Durham, England, 15 miles northwest of Durham, England, Durham. It is located on the A694 road (Great Britain), A694 road starting from Consett and Blackhill, Con ...

also found. 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, such as chains, pumps, cannon carriages and anchors up to four tons in weight. The Crowley works were regarded as the largest manufactory of the kind in Europe. The gates for Buckingham Palace were also forged in Winlaton. It still has one of the oldest forges remaining in existence, built c1690. Winlaton's front street is the village's forefront for shopping, as it has a variety of shops, public houses and takeaways. The Winlaton Centre, a local events venue, was built in 1973, and is host to events such as youth clubs and fitness classes. There is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church dedicated to St Paul; St Paul's church was built in the 19th–century. There is also a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church, dedicated to St Anne and built in 1962. "Coffee Johnny", a local Blaydon celebrity (1829-1900), is buried at St Paul's church graveyard. He "...would be an outstanding figure in any crowd. Not only was he over six feet six inches and well made (he was a blacksmith at Winlaton), but he was quite a dandy and on special occasions wore a tall white hat." On one of the edges of the village is Winlaton Rugby Club, first founded in 1896, they were reformed in 1962 and currently play at Axwell View Playing Fields where a clubhouse was erected the following year after moving in.

History

In 1931 the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

had a population of 21,837. On 1 April 1937 the parish was abolished and merged with Blaydon, Whickham and

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

References

External links

Photos and video of Blaydon & Winlaton 1960sWinlaton Local History Society
Villages in Tyne and Wear Former civil parishes in Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead {{TyneandWear-geo-stub