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the Old Forge in the past
Newland Street with a carriage outside the Old Forge - probably to have its wheels repaired - see below - maybe around 1900.

replacing tyres

In the old days (ie until less than 100 years ago) the blacksmith was a really key part of the village economy - making and repairing agricultural (and other) tools, putting the metal rims on wheels, and a lot of other things, such as letter-boxes, window frames and door knockers. Also, of course, they shod horses. Probably the most important, and certainly the most spectacular, operation was putting the rims on wheels. This is how Annette Faulkener (one of the blacksmithing Burden family) described it to Mollie Harris in From Acre End (p 24). Click here for an account of shoeing horses, by a lad who worked the bellows at the forge

Of course, all carts, traps and wagons were fitted with iron tyres or rims on the wooden wheels, and because of the rough flint roads in those days these iron rims wore out quickly. It was the blacksmith's job to make and fit new ones. The owners would bring their carts or traps into the blacksmith's shop. The men would take off the wheel and whip off the old tyre, and a new one specially made to size would start to be formed.

Long pieces of iron would first be heated red hot in the forge fire. Then the iron was taken from the forge onto the anvil with huge long tongs, and the men would strike the red hot metal, welding the pieces together to form hoops when cold. Then the tyre was stood on one side while the men made another one. It wasn't economical just to make one tyre, so while the men were at it they went on to make eight or nine in one day. All the hoops then had holes drilled in them by hand for the nails which would keep the rim on the wheel.

Out in the back yard there was a big, tall, narrow oven. It took two or three tyres at a time and was heated with wood. My father used to buy old railway sleepers and have them sawn up to feed the fire. These sleepers were
soaked in creosote, so you can imagine how well they burnt up. The fire had to be kept going well all the time because the tyres that had been stacked in the oven had to be absolutely red hot all the way round, and they had to be turned round and round with long tongs all the while to get them in this red hot state all over.

Meanwhile, the wooden wheel that was going to be fitted with a new tyre had been screwed down on to a huge, round iron platform in the back yard. Two men would then whip the red hot tyre out of the oven and drop it on to
the wheel, and two or three other fellows went round and round striking the tyre very quickly to get it into position, and all the while another man would be pouring water on to the wheel to stop it from catching fire. They would keep dipping their buckets or watering cans into a big tub to refill them. The water had been drawn up from the old well earlier in the day, ready for this swift operation.

When a wheel was judged to be cool enough, it was stacked to one side, the next one put into place, and the whole procedure repeated again and again. Speed was the great thing, as the remaining tyres in the oven must not get too hot.

The last thing to be done was to drive long nails in the tyres (or rims) to secure them on to the wheel. Then the wheels were passed on to the wheel- wright, Jack Batts, whose yard was just down the road from the blacksmith's, in what is now called Wintle's Farm. The men used to bowl the wheels along, just like children bowled a hoop.
From Acre End - portrait of a village by Mollie Harris, Chatto & Windus, London 1984. You can borrow it from the Library (they have 3 copies).
This is what the Victorian County History says about the Old Forge:
A smithy in Newland Street, which survived in 1984, can be traced to the 18th Century and may be older; it was worked for over 150 years by the Burdens, who in 1851 also worked another on the site of garage in High Street.
VCH, Vol XII, p 138

Annette Faulkener (see above) says it was worked by her family at least since 1769. And there are stories that both Cromwell's and Charles I's horses were shod here - and they very probably were.