The Forge at Burley Woodhead
(This paper first appeared in 1989 in volume 4, pp. 18-24, of the third series of The Bradford Antiquary, the journal of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society.)
'Reyner the smith ...' Bradford Manor Court Rolls (1344)
My grandfather, Ernest John Rayner, trained as a blacksmith under his father, William, at Burley Woodhead, in the late 1880s, but became a coachman in Ilkley around 1900, an occupation which enabled him better to indulge his love of horses. William was born in 1844 at Back Lane, Burley, in one of two small cottages, now, alas, no longer standing. The area at that time must have been one of considerable charm and beauty, for in the tithe documents dated February 1845 we read:
“Land (smithy) Burley, owned by Maude William Jennet Esq., occupied by James Lister and others, consisting of two cottages and gardens, blacksmiths shop and orchard.”
What may be the same two cottages are also mentioned in Two thousand miles in Wharfedale, by Edmund Bogg, who writes:
“The village is large, well built and clean, a few seventeenth century houses still remaining. In the back lane, south of the main street, are two of a century earlier The occupier of one, having taken charge of a goat during the absence of its owner, was aroused by his housekeeper during the night, with the startling information that some person was trying to break in from the roof.”
The culprit turned out to be the goat, which, after being well soused with water, leapt from the thatch to terra firma.
It seems that William had travelled to Bradford in his journeyman days, for he married in 1867 at the Parish Church, the daughter of a Durham joiner, Mary Ann Bell, who was living in Bradford. The Rayner's first child, Thomas Henry, was born at Cavalry Barracks, Bradford Moor, in 1869, although William was probably only a civilian farrier attached to the army. Their second child, Ernest Howarth, was born at East View, Idle, in 1871, and baptised at Bradford Parish Church, but died in infancy.
By 1873 William had returned to Woodhead to take charge of the forge, which his father, Thomas, had started in about 1850. William's third child, Ernest John, was born at Woodhead in 1875.
Although the work done at Woodhead forge was that of a general blacksmith and farrier, it specialised in quarry tools, picks and masons' chisels, and had earned a reputation for the tempering of tool edges, a service which was no doubt very much appreciated by those working the quarries around Ilkley Moor.
A photograph shows William, with long flowing beard and full leather apron, standing at the doorway of the forge. Outside there is a small donkey and cart, with two small children and a fellow blacksmith, possibly his eldest son, Thomas.
The forge, which was demolished about 1911, was situated on Woodhead Green, a triangle of land at the junction of Moor Lane and the road skirting the edge of the moor.