Smithy additional building II

This brick building originally was the stable of the castle Dorenburg. Today, the building shelters a village smithy, as it was normal around 1900. The profession of a blacksmith is one of the oldest crafts existing at all. Additionally, it was one of the most important professions in town as well as on the country side.

In the village smithies tools were fabricated but also repaired. The blacksmith produced iron pieces for agricultural machines and vehicles. He did not only produce horseshoes but was also the person to shoe the horse himself. Furthermore, there were blacksmiths who were specialized on certain materials or on the production of certain items: There were for example the copper-smith or silver smith and the cutler or armorer. Due to the industrialization in the 19th century the smithies often developed to industrial metal ware businesses, even in the villages.

Did you know that…
… there is a German saying which literally means “to make nails with nailheads”, which comes from smithery? In the past, nails were not made by machines but by the blacksmith on the anvil. For working properly the nail needed a nailhead on which one could hammer, without it the nail would disappear in the wall. So the saying means: One has to do his job well, otherwise it will not end well.