I know it plays on your mind every single day: Why, oh why, do the Cradley Heathens speedway team have a hammer as their emblem? Easy. Cradley is in the heart of the English Black Country and from the early days of the industrial revolution metalworking, especially casting and forging, and in particular chain and nail making, played a big part in the local economy.
In fact, just up the road at Netherton was Noah Hingley's foundry where, incidentally, they made the chains and anchors for the Titanic. This film shows the men at Hingley's smashing the daylights out of hot metal with slick, almost choreographed precision. And remember, every one of those links has been manhandled and hammered.
If you really can't hack the full eight minutes (though you'd be mad to miss it) skip to 7m 30s to see some synchronised rivet hammering. No really, it's... riveting. Ommer it, me babbies! MP
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
9 comments:
Loved going to Dudley Wood. As soon as we got there it was bikes in the pits then round to the straight to get a hot pork sarnie. Ommer 'em Cradley!!! was the fans favourite war cry.
It loaded ok for me ( i guess its silent ) great bit of footage . My ears are ringing
from the very thought of it . you would not want to catch a slap off any of that lot , tough blokes .
Thank you for the post. For more on the early ironworking industry in the Black Country, I would like to invite you to the website for the book series, The Asbury Triptych Series. The trilogy based on the life of Francis Asbury, the young protégé of John Wesley and George Whitefield, opens with the book, Black Country. The opening novel in this three-book series details the amazing movement of Wesley and Whitefield in England and Ireland as well as its life-changing effect on a Great Britain sadly in need of transformation. Black Country also details the Wesleyan movement's effect on the future leader of Christianity in the American colonies, Francis Asbury. The website for the book series is www.francisasburytriptych.com. Please enjoy the numerous articles on the website. Again, thank you, for the post.
@ Al DeFilippo: By coincidence, in the Black Country village where I grew up, Pelsall, there's a plaque marking the spot where Wesley preached, at the canal-side in what is now open country, but that at one time flanked one of the biggest ironworks in the area.
Some observations after watching that excellent clip:
1: I'm obviously a complete soft bastard.
2: Things, be they chains or motorbikes or surfboards or magazines or coffee cups or whatever, are inevitably better when made by hand.
3: A selection of the clothing worn by those fine gents plus a shop in Shoreditch and you'd be a wealthy man.
4: Skill sets are being depleted horribly in this modern world.
New issue just arrived- thanks for the effort Gents, it's a cracker....
Mick. Thank you for the mention. Many people don't realize that Wesley bought the abandoned cannon forge of King Charles in London and turned it into the Foundry Church. The building no longer stands, but I have written about it on the website. Here is a link: http://www.francisasburytriptych.com/john-wesleys-foundry-church/. Enjoy the article. Thank you again. Francis Asbury was actually a West-Midlands nailer for several years, even while he was a part-time local preacher. Fascinating history. Much of this is retold in the book.
And those guys could crack an egg with a hammer without breaking the yolk
Almost makes me feel sorry for the metal the way they flog it.
Wow, that synchronised riveting is mesmerising. All I can try imagine is what it felt like to be in that circle of old hands for the first time. G
Post a Comment