Ugborough

The Blacksmiths of Ugborough Parish

In the north aisle of St. Peter’s Church, Ugborough there is a fine series of fourteenth-century carved wooden roof bosses.  One of these, the second from the west end of the church, features a blacksmith working at his anvil. Dressed in a knee-length belted tunic, a short ‘leather’ apron, and a curiously flowing hat, he invites us to reflect on the occupational costume of his times. But perhaps his presence here serves mostly to remind us that blacksmiths have been plying their trade in this parish for many centuries.

The parish records of Ugborough are fairly comprehensive and from these it is possible to build-up a reasonable profile of the tradesmen who maintained the fabric of the church and serviced the needs of the parish officers.  The Churchwardens’ accounts for many of the years between 1662 and 1922 are currently housed in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, where there are also bundles of interesting vouchers and bills to support the entries in the accounts.
One name that appears regularly in the early pages of these records is that of Thomas Windiate who is recorded carrying out work for the church between 1666 and 1682.  Needless to say his name is spelled in almost as many ways as there are relevant entries: Wingyeat; Windeat, Windiate; Windiatt; Windyet. The following extracts from several different years provide us with an indication of the type of work he was engaged upon for the church:  lying two bisgays; iron for the tower pinnacles; a huark and twist for the Dore; and 100 bord nails & other Iron work for the Bells.  
The names of several other blacksmiths who worked in the parish during the 17th century have been recorded from a variety of sources.  These include Richard Windiet (churchwardens’ accounts 1678-1683); Thomas Bower (will at SOG); Thomas Farleigh, and Mathew Soper.
Unfortunately most of the churchwardens’ records between 1684 and 1725, are missing but Mathew Soper bridges that gap.  He was married in 1696, a churchwarden in 1711, and appears regularly in the disbursements  between 1725 and 1734.  His bill for ironwork in 1731 was rather higher than usual, being £2 - 9s - 5d.  It was during that year that the main door of the north porch was made by two local carpenters, Edmund Brooking and William Jefferys, and although the records were surprisingly detailed at that time, it is disappointing to find that the bill for the large hook and twist hinges which were used to hang the great door is not mentioned specifically.  It seems likely that Mathew Soper made these hinges; he was the only smith whose name appears in the records at this period and his large bill for that year may well include the cost of the iron for making them.  Iron was always very expensive and the quantity used was often reflected in the price charged for work.
In 1735, Mathew’s son, John Soper, appears in the churchwardens’ accounts for the first time, and from there on payments to him for ironwork occur in most years up until the 1780s.  A number of his receipted bills have survived and these include several for work carried out for the church.  The following extract from his bill of April 1751 provides a flavour:

John Soper also carried out tool maintenance for the Surveyors of the Highways, and a number of his bills for this work have survived.  They are particularly interesting for the details of sharpening and repairs made to a variety of now largely forgotten hand tools.   John Soper died in 1797 at the age of 91 years.  His slate headstone, with lettering as legible as the day it was cut, stands adjacent to the church porch.
Tobias Dodderidge (1753 - 1816), who was carrying out work for the church in Ugborough by 1778, did not exactly succeed John Soper because both are mentioned in the accounts during the following decade.  However, Tobias Dodderidge, has left enough material in the form of receipted bills for one to form the opinion that he was a successful and versatile blacksmith. True to the pattern of his time, he founded a short dynasty.  When he died in 1816, he left in his will ‘all my working tools to my son Joseph for the good and support of my wife and family…’. 

Joseph Dodderidge (1795 - 1873) continued to work at his trade in Ugborough for at least another 48 years after his father’s death; his bills for the church and highways surveyors testify to this.  Two of his sons followed him in the trade: Joseph [2] (1822 -1892) trained and worked with him as a journeyman before migrating to Plymouth to work in the dockyard; Thomas Tobias (1824 -1915) also worked with his father for a period and it appears that in 1857 he was the blacksmith at Ludbrook, a hamlet south-west of Ugborough village, but this was a short-lived venture for he abandoned his trade and became a farmer at Egg Buckland.  It was left to Joseph’s grandson, Thomas (1844 -1901-), son of Joseph [2],  to continue the dynasty in Ugborough.  Thomas trained with his grandfather and in about 1870 became innkeeper and blacksmith at the Palk Arms - a logical combination of trades that was engaged in by many shoeing smiths during the nineteenth century.  When his grandfather died in 1873, Thomas also gave up his trade and moved to Plymouth where he became a general labourer.

Prior to the coming of the railways, iron and coal, both essential to the blacksmith’s trade, were brought to Ugborough by carrier from ports such as Totnes or Plymouth.  The opening of the South Devon Railway in the late 1840s changed this pattern, and the following extract from an advertisement published in Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post in 1857 illustrates one of the effects which the railways had upon the trade.  John Newman, a blacksmith, but now well established as a publican at The Ship Inn, has decided to sell his blacksmith’s shop at the other end of the village.  He suggests that it is a good opportunity for a young man about to commence business and goes on to state that:

Ugborough has an excellent Monthly Cattle Market and is about 1½ miles from the Kingsbridge Road Railway Station, and 1 mile from the Siding, where Coals can be had for a trifling expense of carriage.’

John Newman’s suggestion that his smithy would be suitable for a young man just setting-out was taken up by Philip Coleman, son of an Ermington blacksmith of the same name.  Philip Coleman (1832-1925) was soon involved in the life of the village and, almost from the outset, he was commissioned by the churchwardens to make ironwork for the church.  In 1878 he was appointed to maintain and wind the church clock at a salary of £2 - 2s - 0d per annum, and this was a very suitable position for a mechanically minded artisan. The dates of two of the occasions when he cleaned the clock are recorded in pencilled graffiti on the clock-case doors.  Philip Coleman plied his trade in Ugborough for more than 50 years before retiring to Holbeton to live with his daughter.

George Francis Trout (1886-1955) was Ugborough’s last blacksmith.  He, like so many of his predecessors, lies buried in the elevated churchyard that overlooks the village.

Throughout the nineteenth century there were always two or three smithies in the village at any one time; reference to trade directories readily confirms this.  In addition, there were at least two other smithies located within the parish.  Ludbrook, a hamlet just over a mile to the south-west of the village, had a small smithy just off the main thoroughfare and one must wonder how in that position it ever gained the attention of passing trade.  The smithy had a succession of incumbents throughout the nineteenth century and some stayed for but a short while: Richard Bowhay who was there in 1844 moved on and set up a smithy at Holbeton in about 1856; Thomas Tobias Dodderidge was there in 1857, but by the time of the 1861 census, John Whiddon Foale was the smith, and he continued working there at least until the commencement of the Great War in 1914.

Another established  smithy in the parish was at North Filham.  Situated on the road between Plymouth and Exeter, it was well placed for passing trade.  Thomas Beable and his son Arthur were the smiths in 1861 but after Thomas died suddenly in 1862 the smithy passed to Charles Prout who was there for at least the next 40 years.

Within the confines of this article it has not been possible to chart the careers of all of the blacksmiths that worked at one time or another in the parish. Those listed would appear to have been the main players on this small stage, but they were all master blacksmiths with their own businesses. The lives and careers of journeyman and apprentices, some of whom stayed for only a short while before moving on to other places, are not so easily chronicled.  Nevertheless, my files contain some biographical information relating to a total of forty-three blacksmiths who were at some time in the last three hundred years associated with the parish.

                                                                             George Nicolle 

Glossary

Lying or Laying a tool is frequently mentioned in early blacksmiths’ accounts.  It involved restoring a worn or broken tool to its original shape or size by welding on new metal. 

Bisgay or Bisgey and various other spellings including visgie. A digging tool of the mattock family which also has a vertical blade for cutting through the roots of trees or shrubs.

This article was first published in The Devon Family Historian, no. 125, February 2008.

Article for website by kind permission of George Nicolle.