The Forge

The Forge

There was once a forge in what is now the lounge of the Black Horse public house. The blacksmith would have made or mended anything metal but his traditional role was always that of shoeing horses and draught oxen.

Our last Village blacksmith was Ernie Stenning (1877-1960) the son of Nelson Stenning the village baker. Following his apprenticeship, Ernie established a smithy opposite the Plough in 1905, working as a blacksmith until his retirement in 1950.

The forge and the adjacent yard are now the site of Forge House, founded for ex-servicemen in 1972 by the efforts of Elizabeth Dacre.