The Mayfield Smithy at Shugborough Park Farm

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Date:2004

Description:Charles Woodward's smithy from Mayfield as reconstructed at Shugborough Park Farm. The forge is to the right of the photograph, and a hand powered belt-driven drill can be seen to the left.

The smithy belonged to the Woodward family from 1805 and worked until Charles Woodward retired in 1965. Many of these tools were made by Mr Woodward and his father.

Charles Woodward was born in 1889 and lived all his life next to the smithy at 22 Wallash in Mayfield. When he died in 1974 the smithy and his living room were collected by the Staffordshire County Museum and moved to Shugborough.
He was a bachelor and a deeply religious man - he never worked on Sunday. His working day began at 6 in the morning and finished at 5.30 in the afternoon. In his spare time he read his Bible, bred pigeons and tended his garden.

Mr Woodward was one of the few blacksmiths to keep working after the 1940s, when tractors and factory made tools and machines made the blacksmith's skills obsolete.
He kept working by doing general ironwork in the village; making tools, kitchen equipment, hinges and so on. He made most of the ironwork for the local sewage works and regularly repaired looms at Bond's textile mills in Alrewas.


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1840s
Longhorn bull
Longhorn bull

Oil painting of Longhorn bull 'Conqeror' (sic), facing right , standing in stable ...

1900s
Mole plough
Mole plough

This horse-drawn mole plough was used to improve the drainage of farm land. As ...

1920s
Thomas Walter Fallows and family, Shugborough Park Farm
Thomas Walter Fallows and family, Shugborough Park Farm

The Fallows family pictured at the front of Shugborough Park Farmhouse, where they ...

1940s
Mr Brookes, Shugborough Park Farm
Mr Brookes, Shugborough Park Farm

Leonard 'Dick' Brookes (1915-2009), pictured in the farmhouse at Shugborough Park ...

1970s
Restoration of Shugborough Park Farm
Restoration of Shugborough Park Farm

Shugborough Park Farm pictured after the departure of its last tenant. The farm ...

2010s
Horse-drawn market cart, Shugborough Park Fam
Horse-drawn market cart, Shugborough Park Fam

A market cart or milk float made by Egerton & Sons of Church Minshull, near Crewe, ...