South Building Of Weardale Steel (Wolsingham) Limited

The South Building of Weardale Steel (Wolsingham) Limited, formerly known as Wolsingham Ironworks, was constructed in 1864 and later for Charles Attwood. It features thin courses of sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and quoins, topped by an asbestos-covered roof. The building has one high storey and consists of two sections with 10 and 7 windows, respectively, and a small low pent addition on the rear elevation.

The first section has round-headed windows with slender vertical glazing bars and overlapping panes, set in chamfered alternate-block surrounds with sloping sills. The second section to the north has square-headed windows with flat stone lintels and projecting stone sills. There is a segmental-headed vehicle door located between the fourth and fifth windows, which is partly blocked and has 20th-century doors inserted. The right and left returns feature renewed sliding doors. The building is topped with a hipped roof that includes drum-shaped ventilators.

Inside, there is a queen-post roof, and a girder frame supports a crane along the length of the shop.

Historically, Charles Attwood, who initially worked in iron manufacturing at Tow Law, was granted patents in 1862 for an improved method of manufacturing steel, which was noted to be cheaper and more reliable than the cementation method and had advantages over Bessemer's process, patented in 1855.