Description and History of Site:-
A single storey, single room, stone built nail making smithy, adjacent to a former working farm.
The smithy would be equipped with a forge consisting of a hearth with hand-operated bellows, a wooden stock with a heavy stone block holding a small anvil, or 'Stiddy'. At the back of the stock was fixed the 'Oliver' or foot hammer, which the smith operated by pressing down on a foot treadle with his right foot, a spring pole lifting the hammer back into it's rest position. Equipment that any clog iron smith would have been very familiar with, indeed many nail smiths eventually went over to clog iron working as industrialisation took over the hand making of nails. (See WYK01107).
After the nail smithy had closed, the tools and equipment were displayed at Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley.
The first record of nail making in Silsden can be found in the Parish Register of Kildwick, this records a nail-maker from Silsden in 1761. He was named William West and was said to have come from Birmingham to live in the area at Sycamore Farm, Brunthwaite, just on the outskirts of Silsden, and brought the trade of nail-maker to Silsden.
Until 1850 the industry was domestic or semi-domestic, with farmers supplementing their incomes by having a smithy on the farm. At the height of the industry, Silsden was famous for its nail-making and there were over 200 smithies working within one mile of the village centre. By 1850 it was difficult to compete with industrialisation and massed produced nails.
Many of the nail-makers went over to clog-iron making, another of Silsden's claims to fame. By 1919 nail-making had stopped in Silsden but clog-iron making continued until August 1950 when the last clog-iron works, Thomas Green's on Sykes Lane, Silsden closed down. (See WYK01107).
The site is also known as the 'Old Wash-house' by the owner, who has lived nearby for over forty years, and indicates its subsequent use after nail-making had died out locally as a handmade craft.

Further Reading and References:-
http://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1225306
http://www.silsden.net/

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Key Words :- nails forge smithy nail-making

Viewing the Site :- Private land, no access

Address :- Silsden, West Yorkshire, BD20 9AB
Grid Ref :- SE 02879 46555
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.915135 , Long -1.957655
Local Authority :- City of Bradford
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Listed - Grade II
Historic England List No - 1225306,
Site Condition :- Site disused - but otherwise substantially intact
Record Date :- 26 July 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford