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Harold Taylor takes a trip down memory lane, back in the mid to late 1930's when he used to help out in the local blacksmith shop in his home town of Chichester.
When I was at the Central School, I started going to the blacksmith shop, situated behind the Nags Head Pub in the St. Pancras. The smith was Tommy Walton who lived in Whyke Lane.
I used to pump the bellows at the smithy after school and on Saturday mornings. I did not get anything for this, but the pleasure of being with the animals and seeing him work was all I was interested in. He used to give me little jobs to do such as drilling the shoes to fit snow spikes.
I had my mind set on following the trade, but this was not to be.
Many years later, when trying to trace my ancestry, I found that right back as far as I could go, about 1650, the Taylors of Clent had all been smiths of some sort. I had seen a reference to my grandfather at the time of his marriage being described as a sawyer, but presumed that this meant he sawed trees. I now think that perhaps it meant he made saws or was a saw doctor.
I think I may have carried on this pastime after I started at the Lancastrian School, but am not certain. Around that time alterations took place to the Nag's Head that more or less killed the trade. The entrance to the passage that led to the smithy was half blocked by an extension to the entrance to the public bar.
Carters would now have to leave their carts parked on the cobbled stretch of road outside the St. Pancras Church and walk their horses up this narrow entrance. The big cart horses were too large, and some shied at the confined space. I am not certain how long he continued trading, but he was an old man then.
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