The city blacksmith

click photo to enlarge
During my lifetime I've lived in the country, in towns and in a city. I've always been grateful for that breadth of experience because it taught me that all locations have their advantages, disadvantages and interest. Moreover, I came to realise that the supposed antipathy and incomprehension that separates urban and rural dwellers is something dreamed up by slightly unhinged individuals and interest groups such as the so-called "Countryside Alliance".

When, as a child and youth, I lived in the country I was familiar with the work of the blacksmith. One of my early memories is standing watching the Kirkby Lonsdale smith, Jonty Wilson, at his work in his smithy on Fairbank mending some agricultural implements. Those premises are a smithy still. I also have a number of memories of Alf Limmer on Castlebergh Lane in Settle, shoeing horses, making gates, and fashioning some sledge runners for me. This smithy still exists today too.

But, despite the longevity of these particular premises, there are certainly fewer blacksmiths now than when I was young. However, they can still be found, usually in large villages or small towns, fashioning and repairing metal for domestic and agricultural customers and sometimes shoeing horses too, though mobile farriers seem to do most of this work now. Blacksmiths have always found work in cities and a few still do. Recently, on a short visit to London, I came across one in Rotherhithe. He was working at his forge in Surrey Docks City Farm, a place that aims to give London children a taste of farming, food production and farm animals. We'd been there before with our grand-daughter, but on this occasion I went in by a different entrance and passed the open door of the forge, allowing me to grab this shot as the blacksmith heated the metal he was working on. I added a touch of dark vignetting to my photograph to give emphasis to the figure, his forge and the glow from the flames.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 105mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO: 2000
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Smithies and forges

click photo to enlarge

Today's photograph is posted in response to an email I have received from "down under", Australia to be more specific. It was from someone doing family history research. One of her ancestors lived in the parish of Aswarby and in her researches she'd come across my photographs of the church, the local landscape and in particular, the old smithy. In 2008 I posted a sepia coloured photograph of this building and wrote something of its history. She wondered whether I had a colour photograph of the building. As luck would have it her email came shortly after we'd had a walk in the area and I'd taken another photograph of the building. Here it is.

I wouldn't have posted this photograph had it not been for the email and, more particularly, the fact that it reminded me of another smithy I'd photographed last year. The former forge/smithy and bakehouse at Tinwell, Rutland is altogether grander and more ornate than the example at Aswarby. It too is a consciously picturesque building in an"estate village", the product of a rich and paternalistic landowner. But, whereas Aswarby's smithy is on a track off the main road in a small, somewhat scattered settlement, the one in Tinwell is in the centre of a larger village near the church, and this probably influenced its scale and decorative qualities. Aswarby has a datestone showing 1846, the year of its construction. Tinwell was built only two years later in 1848. Is it down to fashion that both have horseshoes carved on their facades to indicate their purpose? Tinwell's is massive enclosing a door. Was this a shoeing bay? If so it's certainly a grander entrance than the double doors on the left at Aswarby. The funds available at Tinwell, and the vision of the landowner and his architect also allowed for the incorporation of a water supply under the arch in the wall at the centre of the composition. Today Tinwell's smithy/forge is a post office.

click photo to enlarge

Main Photo
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 28mm
F No: f4
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On