Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Metal
Table 6.6 shows that blacksmiths/farriers comprised 2.4% of fathers in baptisms
from 1813 to 1840 and that they were increasing during this time. 141
present in most parishes of this zone, even in small settlements. 142
Blacksmiths were
Where there was
insufficient full-time work for the smith, he took up by-employments, none more so than
William Sturdy. 143
The rural blacksmith’s work was varied, involving repairs to his
neighbours’ agricultural implements, care for their horses and all manner of different
ironwork. Several blacksmiths kept bees. One such was Henry Ford, who also stocked
several buckets, possibly made for a wider market. 144
Another blacksmith ran a public
house known as the Wheelbarrow Castle, which may suggest that he was known for the
manufacture of wheelbarrows. 145
Thomas Godwyn’s probate inventory provides more detail than most regarding
the contents of the smithy. He had various tools, old and new iron, wire, ‘twenty-two
hundred of coles’ and a shoeing box and horse-shoes. 146
These last items show that he
was a farrier, while the presence of wire may suggest that he supplied needlemakers with
their raw material.
141 Despite inconsistencies in Tables 6.2 and 6.4, the impression from a number of sources is that
blacksmiths had generally been on the increase earlier too. Table 6.8 (1841 census) provides a figure of
2.7% of adult males.
142 Of the 19 parishes in this zone the only parishes without a blacksmith were Billesley, Kinwarton and
Oldberrow. Larger parishes had blacksmiths in each of their separate hamlets.
143 William Sturdy mentioned above in the agriculture section as fisherman, etc.
144 WoRO, probate of Henry Ford, Inkberrow, blacksmith, 1734, £393-6-2. If the combination of
blacksmiths and bees is more than coincidence, it may be that beeswax or honey was used as treatment in
farriery.
145 WoRO, probate of Thomas Willis, Radford, (Rous Lench), blacksmith, 1718, £48-7-11. Many smiths
had links with places outside their parish, but Richard Eaton’s ‘eight acres in Westbear, Kent’ is
exceptional in being so distant. (WoRO, probate of Richard Eaton, Cladswell, (Inkberrow),
blacksmith/yeoman, 1717, £2-15-4.)
146 WoRO, probate of Thomas Godwyn, blacksmith, Exhall, 1691, £30-13-11.
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