A few days ago Jon Pieters approached me with a bit of a challenge: To photograph the brackets, bolts and nuts that Thomas Hartley forged for the St.John’s Anglican Church rafters in 1834. These pictures are now displayed at the Singing Anvil in the Hobson and Co Smithy, Bathurst Agricultural Museum, along with a framed photograph of a very old moth-eaten photograph Thomas Hartley which I captured and spent a bit of time working on in Lightroom to get rid of as many of the raggedy bits as possible. Jon then took a few of these shots along to Amy Muir at the Workshop where she very kindly framed them for the Smithy free of charge. Jon has spent the best part of 15 years or so working on - and in - the Singing Anvil to ensure that this tradition survives as the art form which it undoubtedly is, and which today constitutes one of the most important elements of the Bathurst Agricultural Museum.
Herewith Some history provided by Jon on the East Cape Blacksmiths' facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1659733947626807/):
In 1820 a young man by the name of Thomas Hartley came to South Africa with the British settlers. He opened a blacksmith shop on the premises where the Pig and Whistle Inn in Bathurst is now situated. The ‘built up’ original door and windows are still visible on the west outer wall of the building.
He also extracted teeth at the smithy.
When the longest yellow wood rafters in South Africa had to be installed in the St John's Anglican Church, Thomas Hartley forged the brackets, bolts and nuts for the assembling of the trusses.
Each bolt and nut had to be hand forged and are not universal as a nut will only fit on the bolt made for it.
As iron was not readily available in the colony at that time, iron billets were imported from England and the smith had to draw the metal out to the sizes needed for the specific purposes for which they were intended. Wagon tyre iron came in various thicknesses, widths and lengths, and this was also used in general forgings other than wagon wheel manufacturing.
Some photos of the brackets and the Church door handle that he made in 1834.
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