The world changes constantly and in the process we lose some things. One of them is the sound of the smith's hammer on the anvil. In the days before plastics and mass manufacture of metal goods and furniture there were three essential trades in every small village and town, the tinsmith, the blacksmith and the carpenter. We had all these in Barlick but the one that I want to focus on is the blacksmith.
From the very early days much of a smith's work was shoeing horses, they were farriers as well. As horses faded from the scene they became general smiths. Today specialised farriers have survived wherever horse are kept and a few smiths doing ornamental work but they are few and far between. It was different in the 19th century, in the course of my research I have identified eleven smiths in Barlick but by the time I got interested in the trade there was only one, Jimmy Thompson at West Marton who was the last apprentice to Hoggarth the Gledstone Estate smith and took over his forge when he retired.
I first got properly acquainted with Jimmy when I was building wagon flats for Harrison Brothers. Jimmy made all the ironwork for them and over the years he did jobs for me as well ranging from making cold chisels to a lovely fire basket and hood for the fireplace at Hey Farm. I loved watching him shaping hot metal on the anvil, pestered him with questions that he always answered patiently and came to the conclusion that if I could have afforded to do it I would love to have learned the craft from him as his apprentice because he was a top-class man.
It was from Jimmy that I learned about anvils, that essential item of a smith's equipment, what it was made of, why it was that shape and one thing in particular; why were the legs of his anvil scarred with many cuts and dimples? There are two types of good anvil, the British Style made of wrought iron with a steel face and, as was the case with Jimmy's, an all steel one, usually made in Sweden. His was a Sodofors anvil and the best you can get. As for the scars on the base, these were where the smith had tested cold chisels and punches after drawing them out, hardening them and then tempering the edge so that they were hard enough to cut without being brittle. If they could cut the high quality steel of the anvil they would do!
I learned a lot from Jimmy but can't possibly go beyond telling you what the trick question was in the forge. Asked how many anvils there were in the shop, it was obvious that there was only one. Wrong! There were actually two but one was buried in the floor with only the face showing. It was used for 'upsetting' white hot iron by dropping it onto the surface which 'upset' or thickened it. There's a Little Known Fact for you!
Caption reads: The forge at West Marton.
