Horses were once very important in everyday life. This changed quickly with the advent of tractors, trucks and the motor car.
Horses were used extensively in agriculture; they also hauled delivery carts and buses and everything in between. Some of us may remember the horse-drawn milk float or the coalman and rag-and-bone man.
There were blacksmiths, smithies and forges in most towns and villages. We still have blacksmiths who work in metal, making gates, weather vanes, tools and farm implements, as well as shoeing horses. A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care.
Whilst blacksmiths and farriers are quite rare today, there are reminders of this aspect of our
heritage around The Hundred Parishes, for example in the names Forge Green at Hildersham,
Anvil Cross in Great Hallingbury and Smith’s End Lane in Barley.
The area has five pubs called The Three Horseshoes – a name which probably came about because they had a nearby farrier, ready to deal with a customer who arrived with a horse that had lost a shoe. Today, dwellings with names like The Old Forge or Anvil House often reveal their earlier lives.
Much Hadham Forge is still in use, part of Much Hadham Forge Museum. The museum usually
opens Friday to Sunday, April to December, 11am to 5pm. It is housed in a series of listed
buildings, dating from the 15th to 19th centuries. The forge itself dates from the 17th century; today’s blacksmith runs forge experience days.
Ashdon once had three blacksmiths in the village. Now, one of Ashdon Museum’s excellent
displays is a representation of a blacksmith’s shop with all the tools and equipment that he would
have used. The museum is open April to October from 2pm to 5pm on Sundays and bank holidays
and is well worth a visit.
Ken McDonald of The Hundred Parishes Society