page_title: Hawks family
section_title: Products
hierarchical_section_title: Hawks family / Works / Products
caption_attribution_description: English: The carriageway level of the High Level Bridge, Newcastle, England, soon after its opening in 1849
context_page_description: The Hawks family was one of the largest and most powerful British dynasties to arise during the British Industrial Revolution. It owned several companies in the North and the City of London - including Hawks and Co., Hawks, Crawshay, and Stanley, and Hawks, Crawshay and Sons - all of which featured the Hawks name in the company name and had iron manufacture and engineering as their main enterprises.
  The Hawks company reached the apogee of its power in the early Victorian period, during which it employed over 2000 persons, and its reputation for engineering and bridge building was worldwide. Its Gateshead factories were termed New Deptford and New Woolwich after the location of two of its warehouses on the River Thames, Deptford and Woolwich. The company owned its own ships, which it used to transport its manufacture. It built the striking High Level Bridge across the River Tyne that was opened by Queen Victoria in 1849, bridges as far afield as Constantinople and India, and lighthouses in France. It produced ironclad warships and other materials for the Royal Navy to exponential profits during the Napoleonic Wars and completed several large contracts for the East India Company.
context_section_description: At around the year 1842, the Hawks company erected a cast iron bridge at York, which spans the river Ouse in one arch of 172 feet in width. They company also reconstructed the Rowland Burdon iron bridge at Sunderland, which consists of a single arch of a width of 237 feet. The company also constructed the wrought iron gates for the Northumberland Docks; the iron lighthouses at Gunfleet, Harwich, and Calais; and the iron pier at Madras. The company also built bridges in Constantinople. Sir Robert Hawks financed the construction of St John's Church, Gateshead Fell. The company built the High Level Bridge over the Tyne, which consisted of 5050 tons of iron. George Hawks, the Mayor of Gateshead (see below), drove in the last key of the structure on 7 June 1849. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria later that year. 
  The company produced ironclad warships and other materials for the Royal Navy to exponential profits during the Napoleonic Wars,  and completed several large contracts for the East India Company It also built paddle steamers and hydraulic dredgers.
caption: The carriageway level of the High Level Bridge
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