The Smithy: Blacksmith's Forge to Restaurant

One of Ponteland's best known landmarks and a Listed Building is the small, stone cottage-like structure next to The Diamond Inn, which used to be the village blacksmiths.

Together with the pub, the church, the manor house and the mill, the blacksmith was an essential component of the English village for centuries. In the days where horses were the primary means of locomotion and power and where all tools were made locally almost every village had its own blacksmiths, and where villages were situated on busy roads, as with Ponteland, could often have two.

One of the reasons that this building here is so well known is that it has a very prominent date stone showing 1822 over the entrance. Something that local historians quickly learn however is that whilst date stones may be evidence of when a building was completed, they are seldom conclusive. There is a map of Ponteland dated 1830 which does not show this building, so either the map is wrong or the date stone is wrong. Whatever the truth, it certainly dates to the first half of the 19th century as it is shown on a later map of 1842.

The family most associated with the blacksmith's here were the Moorhead's. Henry Moorhead who was originally from Sedgefield, came here before 1851 as a Master Blacksmith. Employing three men and a boy, he worked here until his death sometime between 1881 and 1891. His son-in-law then took over the business until his grandson, John H. Moorhead came of age. John H. Moorhead was succeeded by his son Jack who retired in the mid-1970's when the trade came to an end in Ponteland.

In 1977 the business was put up for sale and the The Journal interviewed one of Ponteland's oldest residents about his memories of the business.

"There used to be three forges going in that shop at one time, with three blacksmiths, each one with his own striker — he was the one that used to heat and turn the horseshoes. Each one had his own bellows and anvil, and they worked all hours of the day."

He remembered the queues of farmers and carters waiting with their horses at the back door of the smithy.

"I have seen horses standing right down past the Diamond sometimes as many as 20 horses waiting to be shod. And out front, one of the smiths would by heating the hoops — we called them tyres — for the wheels of the carts. There'd be a sizzle and a few taps with the hammer and then the tyres would contract and fit as tight as a glove on the wheel".

After its life as a smithy, the building became a tool-hire shop and is now operating as a Chinese restaurant.

When the building operated as a smith, the blacksmith and his family lived next door in what became No.5 Bell Villas. In 1981 the house was extended with the building of an office and retail block which became No.7 Bell Villas. This used to house Pattison Estate Agents and a barbers.

As a postscript, you can see that the smithy was overshadowed in most of the archive photographs by a very large, sycamore tree which used to stand just outside it. This lasted until 1978 when through internal rot, it was classed as dangerous and was felled.