Jeremiah Ambler Factory

In 1957 Jeremiah Ambler became the first company to open a factory in Peterlee. Reporting on Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to the factory in 1960, the Northern Daily Mail stated that four-fifths of Jeremiah Ambler’s 250 employees at the time were women. It was not chance that the majority share of new jobs created in the early years of Peterlee were in sectors such as clothes and textile manufacturing which predominantly employed women. In addition to providing modern housing and amenities, part of the case made for building the New Town was to redress the historical inequalities in job opportunities for women within the East Durham Coalfield area. Statistics from the 1931 census show that only 7% of working aged women in Easington district were in paid employment. This compared with the national average of 37%. It would not be until the early 1970’s, in the wake of pit closures across the west of Easington district that Peterlee Development Corporation shifted strategy.