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Recording a 19th Century Smithy at East Knowstone - Derry Bryant (Newsletter No 7 2004)
In the last newsletter, members were asked to volunteer to help record the old smithy at East Knowstone - near South Molton. It has stood empty for many years, and was probably last used as a smithy in about 1963. The owner of the property had asked the North Devon Museum in Barnstaple if they would like to take the contents of the smithy before the building was sold. Colin Humphreys of South West Archaeology was going to record the building under the ‘Community Archaeology’ scheme, whereby the County Council will give a grant if local volunteers are asked to help, and the recording is used as a training exercise.
Wanting to ‘have a go’ at all aspects of archaeology, I volunteered and, along with June Aiken, Jim Knights and Lynne Walmesley, arrived in East Knowstone on a cold Friday morning, armed with flasks, sandwiches and great enthusiasm!
From outside, the building resembles a small 'L' shaped barn with the
long edge parallel to the road . The walls are rendered, with a stone
base up to about 4ft, then cob up to the roofline. The front elevation
includes a mullioned window and the double wooden doors at the front contained
a ‘moveable’ central wooden post, which pivots up and down,
presumably to allow carts to enter. The actual smithy containing the forge
is in the foot of the ‘L’, going back onto the plot..It had
thick cob walls, and ivy creeping through the far end wall where the chimney
would have been. The floor was cobbled, and although there was a window
on either side, it was very dark. Most of the blacksmith’s equipment
was still in place with the cylindrical leather bellows still standing
on its framework by the rear wall, the quenching trough at the end of
the forge, and a huge anvil by the side. Lying around on windowsills,
in boxes, and hanging from nails on the wall, were all the tools, tongs
etc the smith would have used, as if the blacksmith had just gone for
a walk!
We were plunged in at the deep end, receiving a rapid lesson in measuring up a building. I was elected to draw the building in plan, to scale, onto a large board, from measurements shouted out by the others.We measured length and thickness of walls, windowsills, and doorframes, and described materials used.We worked hard all day with a short break for lunch.We had to keep doublechecking measurements to get angles right and I did quite a lot of rubbing out as I got some centimetres confused with metres!
We were invited for tea and cake by the fire with the owner, which was a most welcome but very short break, as we needed the daylight to see what we were doing. By the end of the day we had scrambled all around the building, but finally had a good ground plan and notes of the characteristics, thanks to Jim who came along with lots of knowledge of features of farm buildings.
On the Monday Colin and I returned in torrential rain to to add in details and to take photographs. I yelled out measurements so that Colin could draw in the forge in plan and elevation. It was cold and dark, but the roof held out, so it was reasonably dry. It took us all day, but the final detailed drawing was very satisfying.
It was a hectic and muddy two days but a great privilege to be able to see an old smithy with all the equipment still in place and to participate in recording a piece of rural history. Some documentary research would fill out more details of the building’s history and maybe reveal personalities. Who, for instance was the “Bray” who carved his name on one of the doorposts?