The founder of the company, Charles Attwood (1791–1875), was born in Halesowen in the west midlands of England; his father and grandfather were involved in the iron industry of that area.
[1] The company, founded in 1845 as the Weardale Iron Company, was created to exploit iron ore in Weardale; leasing rights were obtained there in the manors of Stanhope and Wolsingham.
Collieries were established in the area, and the company built houses for employees.
[1][3] In 1861 the company began to make steel by the Bessemer process in Tudhoe, the first to do so in northern England.
At Tow Law Attwood was the first licensee of the Siemens regenerative furnace to make steel.