Tow Law is a town and

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England. It is situated a few miles to the south of

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

and 5 miles to the north west of Crook. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,952, increasing to 2,138 at the 2011 Census. The main road through the town is the A68, which starts in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

and goes on north, ending near

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: �t̪alˈçe is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-cent ...

, just south-east of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The

River Deerness The River Deerness in County Durham, England is a tributary to the River Browney, which is itself a tributary the River Wear. It rises near Tow Law and descends through the Deerness Valley for a distance of , passing the villages of Waterhous ...

rises from a spring on the eastern edge of the town.

Tow Law Town Tow Law Town Association Football Club is an English non-league football club from Tow Law, County Durham, currently playing in the Northern League Division One, in the ninth level of the English football league system. The team, nicknamed "Th ...

football club is based in the town. The town is mentioned in

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

's song "Hill Farmer's Blues" from his album '' The Ragpicker's Dream''.

History

The name "Tow Law" is from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''tot hlaw'' meaning "lookout mound," the name of a house which stood there before the iron works and the village were built. There was rapid growth in the mid 19th century after the

Weardale Iron and Coal Company The Weardale Iron and Coal Company, established in the 1840s, produced iron and steel at Tow Law and Tudhoe in County Durham in England, where it also owned collieries. History The founder of the company, Charles Attwood (1791–1875), was born ...

was established here in 1845.

Blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheri ...

s were built and collieries were opened; the population was about 2000 in 1851, and 5000 in 1881."Tow Law"
Tow Law Community Association. Retrieved 25 February 2020. The town constituted an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...

from 1894 until 1974.

21st century

Since December 2001 the town has had a 2.3

Megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

wind farm consisting of three -high

wind-powered Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, w ...

turbines. During the

2001 foot and mouth crisis The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and ...

MAFF MAFF may refer to: * MAFF (gene), a transcription factor * Malmö Arab Film Festival, held in Malmö (Sweden), the largest Arabic film festival in Europe * Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom), a former department of UK g ...

buried diseased animals at the former

Inkerman Pit Inkerman ( uk, Інкерман, russian: Инкерман, crh, İnkerman) is a city in the Crimean peninsula. It is '' de facto'' within the federal city of Sevastopol within the Russian Federation, but '' de jure'' within Ukraine. It li ...

site. This was an emotive issue for local residents, who were disturbed by vehicle movements and smells from the pit. Many protesters attended the site every day for six months but had no effect and Defra continued to keep the site operational until the spring of 2002.

Notable people

Albert Ernest Hillary Albert Ernest Hillary (20 January 1868 – 10 February 1954) was an English chocolate manufacturer and Liberal politician. Family Hillary was the son of John Hillary of Dans Castle, Tow Law, County Durham. In 1897 he married Annie Maud Mary Ba ...

, English chocolate manufacturer and Liberal politician *

Sean Hodgson Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...

, Britain’s longest serving prisoner (27 years) found to be innocent *

Alan Milburn Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...

, a British Labour politician *

Chris Waddle Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He currently works as a commentator. Nicknamed "Magic Chris", football journalist Luke Ginnell wrote that Waddle was "widely ackn ...

, former Premier League footballer played for Tow Law Town A.F.C.

References

External links

Tow law Community Association

Tow Law History Society
{{authority control Towns in County Durham Civil parishes in County Durham Wind farms in England