|
The Ettrick smiddy is a short distance up the road from Ettrick Bay, is probably the oldest surviving example of Bute’s rural heritage. A family line can be traced back from John Thompson, who lives there now at the age of 85, through his father, Bryce Thompson, who came to the smiddy in 1907 to serve his apprenticeship under John Smith, before going to work in Broxburn during the First World War to make shoes for mules. On returning to Bute, Bryce went to work for Rothesay's leading farrier, Andrew Baird in the High Street and subsequently married John Smiths daughter Catherine. John Smith was born in 1864 his father Peter was born in 1828 and his father Duncan in 1795. Peter is the first known blacksmith at the Ettrick Smiddy, though it’s more than likely that his father Duncan was a smith there too.
Recalling his own memories of the days when the smiddy still worked, John Thomson said: “There used to be seven blacksmiths on the island and this was the last one. It’s still the last that’s workable. It hasn’t changed at all since it was last used in 1949. There were two fires in there at the one time and half a dozen men working. All the farms in the area had their Clydesdale horses shod here. They used to have to have their cartwheels made here too".
“When my father was an apprentice here all the traffic was milk carts travelling along the road from the farms at five in the morning. They would stop and throw stones on to the roof to wake my father up to put studs on their horses’ shoes to stop them slipping on the icy road in Winter. If you were a farmer and wanted a bit of machinery made you went to the blacksmith. But tractors started on the island in the early 1940s and that really did away with the county blacksmiths”
It is remarkable that a traditional blacksmiths shop like the Ettrick smiddy should survive; when you open the door you look back in time to the 1949 when the smiddy closed.
On the 17th September thanks to the efforts of Ian Sinclair and with the co-operation of John Thompson, the smiddy was working once more. The fire was alight, the anvil resounded to the sound of the hammer and the tools of the trade surrounded the hearth.
Two farriers, David Varini and Devin Crerar, both trained at the leading farriers company of J&A Ferrie of Newtonmilns, travelled to Bute to demonstrate the art of horseshoe making and shoeing using the smiddys own fire and anvil in front of a fascinated audience. Throughout the day a bustle of engrossed visitors watched the two farriers make a range of different types of horseshoes from start to finish and fit one set of newly made shoes to Kendal, Marion Sayers large piebald horse. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
