0:00:04 > 0:00:08This is the story of one man...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10one man central to society,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13a man who has had many faces over the centuries...
0:00:13 > 0:00:19often misunderstood, sometimes feared, but always called upon.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23He'd be making every single tool for every other craft.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28No other craftsman could work without the products of the blacksmith.
0:00:28 > 0:00:34From his earliest beginnings, the blacksmith's creations in iron,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37wrought by hand, drove society forward.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44In the Industrial Age, both the blacksmith's wrought
0:00:44 > 0:00:48and the founder's cast iron would be harnessed for their unique strength
0:00:48 > 0:00:52to lay the foundation of our modern world.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56But this story is not just one of industry and practicality,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00it's the story of man's urge to embellish, decorate
0:01:00 > 0:01:03and bring beauty to the objects he crafted.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Once you get inside and you look up at this dome,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08it's almost like St Paul's Cathedral itself.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10It's fantastic. Absolutely amazing.
0:01:10 > 0:01:16From this ancient craft have sprung some of the most awe-inspiring aspects of the world around us.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21That man is the blacksmith, and this is his story.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Ancient people first discovered iron in meteorites
0:01:35 > 0:01:39and began to work objects from this seemingly heaven-sent metal.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43But soon, they discovered the means of smelting iron from ore,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48and with this discovery, the foundation of our civilisation was laid.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50The Iron Age was born.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54The method of making iron hasn't changed over the centuries.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57First of all, you need your iron ore.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01With that, you then need charcoal, and you put the iron ore
0:02:01 > 0:02:03and the charcoal in the furnace.
0:02:03 > 0:02:10You create the heat by putting a blast into the furnace with bellows,
0:02:10 > 0:02:15and you eventually end up with a bloom of iron.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20That...is a bloom of iron.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24From the bloom, impurities are hammered out to make a billet,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29and from there, the blacksmith's art can begin.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Well, wrought iron has that huge advantage of being strong,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36really, really strong.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38METAL CLANGS
0:02:40 > 0:02:44Before iron was used, it was woodwork.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48It was timber. Timber fences, timber gates,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51and those could be hacked down or burnt.
0:02:51 > 0:02:57Iron is super-strong, and wrought iron is quite bendy, too,
0:02:57 > 0:03:02so that it will give a bit but it won't break under hammer blows.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06- HAMMER TAPS - It's like plasticine when it's hot.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09It bends in a very elegant way.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12BIRDS CHIRP
0:03:15 > 0:03:18With fire, hammer, tongs and anvil,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21the blacksmith could make whatever he could forge.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23The only limit was the amount of iron available
0:03:23 > 0:03:27and the blacksmith's imagination.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32Then, as today, the smith's craft offers the possibility of both
0:03:32 > 0:03:36practical purpose and artistic ambition.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44When you've got a piece of yellow-hot iron under the hammer,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48it will move, but you've got to make it move the way YOU want it to,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51because it will go anywhere it wants otherwise,
0:03:51 > 0:03:56so you've got to get that hammer to come down on the metal at exactly the right angle,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and to stop working it when it gets too cold.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01HAMMER TAPS
0:04:01 > 0:04:07A blacksmith will put his character into his work, because that's his personality.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Their work becomes individual,
0:04:09 > 0:04:14and this is the nice thing about, you know, being handmade.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17We are so used today of taking things off the shelf
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and they are always the same.
0:04:20 > 0:04:21Well, years ago, they weren't.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24METAL THUDS
0:04:28 > 0:04:31As early as 800 BC, the blacksmith in Britain
0:04:31 > 0:04:34was making domestic knives and cooking implements,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36cutting edges for farming tools...
0:04:38 > 0:04:41..and powerful blades for war.
0:04:43 > 0:04:50The man behind these creations would become society's most important craftsman.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Respected and feared in equal measure,
0:05:00 > 0:05:05the blacksmith was the most useful man in any medieval village.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09I think the blacksmith was a central figure in society,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12certainly in the Middle Ages and right through,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16probably, in villages, until the 19th century.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19He was there for all the people in the community,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23right from the Lord down to the lowly serf.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27If the lowly serf wanted a couple of nails to nail something together,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31he would go to the blacksmith. Everybody had access to him.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35We made not just our own tools, but everybody else's tools as well.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Without their tools, they couldn't work,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40so you daren't upset the blacksmith.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44The blacksmith was the man you went to if you needed a tooth pulled out.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49He was strong and had the equipment. Doesn't really bear thinking about.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52METAL CLANGS
0:05:52 > 0:05:58In early village society, the blacksmith's skills appeared almost supernatural,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03and it was these "magical powers" that were often misunderstood.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06He did everything, and you've got to remember,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09the blacksmith was also seen in a mystical light.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13The fact that he could control the fire was magical.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16They were suspicious of the blacksmith.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19You know, he had these magic powers.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Some people thought they were magicians.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25It's probably where the thought of the devil in burning hell started.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29You go into a blacksmith's shop, is dark, it's dingy,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32there's the smoke, there's the flames,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36there's the sparks when he hits the metal, so it can be quite frightening.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Way back in myth, you have Hephaestus,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46the Greek god of smithing, who becomes Vulcan, the Roman god.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49They live in Mount Etna inside a volcano,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54and in the Scandinavian legends and Anglo-Saxon legends as well,
0:06:54 > 0:06:58you have smiths like Wayland and Alberich the dwarf
0:06:58 > 0:07:00and Volund and so on,
0:07:00 > 0:07:05who are all slightly supernatural characters with magical powers.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Swart smith smirched with smoke
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Drive us to death By the din of the dints
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Such noise a knight Will ne'er heard, never
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Such clashing of cries And clattering of knocks
0:07:17 > 0:07:21The craftsmen clamour For coal, coal, coal!
0:07:21 > 0:07:25And blow their bellows Their brains, to burst.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37The blacksmith was an alchemist, transforming base metal into invaluable objects.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41But his strong, practical products
0:07:41 > 0:07:44could also be highly embellished pieces of beauty.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49I really love making decorative work, more traditional pieces.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54The majority of these techniques are passed down from generation to generation.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57This is called a ribbon scroll
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and it's just like a ribbon of iron, that's all.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02So I'll just start to bend the very tip.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05There are seven basic principles of wrought iron work -
0:08:05 > 0:08:09fire welding. I don't think you can call yourself a blacksmith
0:08:09 > 0:08:13if you can't fire-weld two pieces of wrought iron together.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17So we've got welding, we've got punching, punching holes,
0:08:17 > 0:08:18we've got splitting with a chisel...
0:08:18 > 0:08:22It's my theory that the first two tools ever invented were the hammer and chisel.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29Twisting, we grab hold of it and we turn it round when it's hot.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Then we've got bending. The scroll is a perfect example.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Number six is drawing down.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37You've heard the expression "long and drawn out."
0:08:37 > 0:08:40This is where we might have a bar that's, say, 25mm square,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43an inch square, and we forge it down to a nice, sharp point.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47So I'm just changing the cross-section of it, drawing it out.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49METAL CLANGS
0:08:49 > 0:08:53The reverse of that is upsetting the bar. Jumping it up.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54You might have heard the term,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56somebody might be "a little bit jumped up."
0:08:56 > 0:08:59This means they're appearing bigger than they truly are.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03You can see how that's much thicker than it is on there.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06These techniques, the blacksmith's craft,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09allowed society to power forward.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Medieval objects like hinges and grilles offered strength
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and support, but they weren't just practical.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23At its best, smithing could be the harmonious realisation of function and decorative form.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29But in the mediaeval era, iron was precious and expensive.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33It was only when patrons of wealth and power commissioned work
0:09:33 > 0:09:36that its full potential could be realised.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41And the biggest patron of iron in the 12th century was the Church.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45This is St Helens in Stillingfleet, near York.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47In this unassuming village church,
0:09:47 > 0:09:52survives a piece of blacksmithing that was truly miraculous.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55This iron hinge opened the door,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58but it's also one of the earliest examples of the metal being used
0:09:58 > 0:10:02for much more than its strength alone.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07Here, for the first time, iron is being used to tell a story -
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Noah's Ark, Adam and Eve and The Fall.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14This religious iconography instructed local villagers
0:10:14 > 0:10:20to remember the lessons of the Bible at a time when they couldn't read the holy book written in Latin.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24In this hinge, iron's purpose was not merely strength,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28but spiritual sermon, as the iron reached out to local parishioners
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and showed them that the way to salvation was through this door.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38We don't know how much this impulse to tell a story came from the smith or his patron,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41but this rare example of storytelling in iron
0:10:41 > 0:10:45shows the breadth of possibility and imagination of the time.
0:10:45 > 0:10:52But sometimes, for the smith, it was as simple as decoration purely for decoration's sake.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56It would also, often, go into curliewurlies, as I call them.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01S-scrolls and C-scrolls seem to be very naturally suited to iron.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06I think it's the shape iron assumes when it's hot, and then it goes cold.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10One of the first manifestations of this curlywurly scroll work
0:11:10 > 0:11:16can be seen in this ornate hinge dating from around 1160,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18and originally from St Albans Cathedral.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24It's thought that it was one of the big doors,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28the so-called side door to the Abbey.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32And it's enormous because it would have covered this very large, Romanesque door.
0:11:34 > 0:11:40Obviously, these hinges from St Albans with their lovely S and C-shaped scrolls
0:11:40 > 0:11:43were serving a function, but, above all, they were decorative.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47But they weren't just decorative - they covered the wood,
0:11:47 > 0:11:53and that meant they strengthened that oak door against hammer blows
0:11:53 > 0:11:55or whoever was trying to break into the cathedral or abbey.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57That was their purpose.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04These elaborate objects reveal the medieval blacksmiths' urge to decorate,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07but they don't reveal their sources.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10We don't know who made these.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14In the mediaeval era, the blacksmith was largely anonymous -
0:12:14 > 0:12:16a craftsman who rarely signed his work.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20But in the 13th century, towns and cities were evolving,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23and the English craftsman starts to emerge from the shadows.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28From coinmakers to bookbinders, masons to hammermen,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31each had its own craft guild to regulate apprenticeships
0:12:31 > 0:12:34and ensure the highest quality.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Named artisans began to appear, and amongst them,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40the master smiths of the day.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42One such name can be found in Windsor.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47In the 1240s,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51King Henry III commissioned a church in honour of Edward the Confessor,
0:12:51 > 0:12:56today, part of St George's Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
0:12:56 > 0:13:02Part of that commission was for the splendid doors, which, even today,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06are reserved solely for use by the monarch and royal family.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15These doors really provide the impact that one would expect
0:13:15 > 0:13:18from medieval decorative ironwork.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23In the Middle Ages, colour was an incredibly important part of all architectural decoration,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26and this use of the red and gold is completely appropriate,
0:13:26 > 0:13:32and I think it makes an enormous difference to see iron painted gold,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35because it emphasises the precious nature of this metal.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43This design is The Tree of Life.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47The smith behind this is using a revolutionary new stampwork technique
0:13:47 > 0:13:50to create these uniform leaves,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52but amongst the leaves lie two other stamps
0:13:52 > 0:13:55that could actually reveal its maker's secrets.
0:13:55 > 0:14:02Here, we've got a circular stamp with a long-cross coin in it here,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06and we also have an oval stamp three times over,
0:14:06 > 0:14:08with the name Gilibertus on it.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14Coinmakers are the only craftsmen in the Middle Ages
0:14:14 > 0:14:19who systematically have to put their names on their products.
0:14:20 > 0:14:26Sure enough, here is the only door we've got from the Middle Ages with the name, a name, on it.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32Here, in all its gilded glory, we may be looking at the very first
0:14:32 > 0:14:36piece of ironwork that we can attribute to a named smith.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Now, obviously, the name Gilibertus could refer to anybody.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44It could be the patron, but it could also be the smith who made it.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49And it so happens that amongst the very small number of smiths
0:14:49 > 0:14:52who were commissioned to make the long-cross coinage,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55there is listed Gilbert the Bonnington,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58who was the royal coinmaker working in Canterbury.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02And he would have had precisely the skills to make this work.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07He knew how to do stamps, he worked in gold, he made the long-cross coin,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10AND his name was Gilbert, and he was known by the king.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22What we are seeing in these 13th century doors
0:15:22 > 0:15:26is our most visible early example of fine skills from other crafts
0:15:26 > 0:15:29crossing over into iron.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34This rich cross-pollination of trades would shape the future of smithing.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43In the late mediaeval era,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46specialist skills would push the blacksmith's art
0:15:46 > 0:15:48to the very pinnacle of achievement.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01In this 15th century abbot's cupboard from Whalley in Lancashire,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04we see the smith using elaborate techniques
0:16:04 > 0:16:07to embellish beyond necessity.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10But beneath the decoration,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14iron was still being depended upon to strengthen and protect.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19Ironwork is always associated with protection and fear,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23and therefore security. You want to secure your valuables.
0:16:24 > 0:16:31We think that keys start to be being made in the west in iron in about the 14th century.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36This is one of the earliest 14th or 15th centuries, very simple.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Rather nice little diamond shape,
0:16:39 > 0:16:45and the bit at the bottom, perhaps the earliest mediaeval key.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49This one might be about the same date, 15th century,
0:16:49 > 0:16:50but it's more elaborate.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55I think the decoration entirely depends on the amount of money
0:16:55 > 0:16:59the patron wanted to spend on that particular object.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05By the end of the 15th century,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08wealthy patrons, such as the church and monarchy,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12were handpicking known craftsmen at the top of their game
0:17:12 > 0:17:14to match a commission's requirements.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23When King Edward IV commissioned the Cornish smith John Tresilion
0:17:23 > 0:17:28to make these Gothic gates here in Windsor in 1497,
0:17:28 > 0:17:29he did so with good reason.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33These gates are one of the most astonishing pieces of craftsmanship
0:17:33 > 0:17:36ever to survive from the Middle Ages.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40They are the gates which were going to protect the tomb of King Edward IV.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46They were intended, and they were actually covered in gold plate,
0:17:46 > 0:17:51so the whole thing would have seemed like the entry into celestial realms.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00When you look at the refinement of all these tiny pieces of tracery,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04it's quite clear that this is the work of a master craftsman.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08At the top here, you're dealing with really miniature architecture
0:18:08 > 0:18:11that is more like a jewel than a gate,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14which is, after all, a piece of serious protection.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19No blacksmith, ordinary blacksmith, who was used to making horseshoes
0:18:19 > 0:18:22could ever dream of working to this standard of perfection.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32The precision that comes in with the cold bench work and the files and the chisels and so on
0:18:32 > 0:18:36is partly being driven by advances in science
0:18:36 > 0:18:41because, at the same time as blacksmiths were trying to create architectural features,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46there was another range of the whole craft skill, still smiths,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49who were working at mechanical clocks.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00It appears like a completely unified structure of immense complexity
0:19:00 > 0:19:05but it's actually made out of lots and lots of very small component units
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and they are simply held together by pegs.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Exactly what they use for making clocks.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14The introduction of mechanical clocks
0:19:14 > 0:19:19seems to be happening in the late 13th, early 14th centuries
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and obviously these are requiring ratchets and wheels made
0:19:22 > 0:19:27with very great precision in order to make clockwork operate properly.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32And these are being made of iron and by blacksmiths.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39The royal building accounts show that actually John Tresilion
0:19:39 > 0:19:43also worked elsewhere for the king as his clockmaker,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47and that's crucial because clocks were made of iron,
0:19:47 > 0:19:52but in order to make a clock work, you needed to be able to design cog wheels
0:19:52 > 0:19:57of scientific precision, and I think that completely explains what we're seeing here.
0:19:57 > 0:20:03We're seeing a craftsman who can work with the precision of a scientific toolmaker.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09From the solitary image of the mediaeval smith in his village forge
0:20:09 > 0:20:12to the highly sophisticated craftsman sharing specialised skills
0:20:12 > 0:20:17within organised trades, the blacksmith had come a long way.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20This piece is testament to his journey
0:20:20 > 0:20:25through the scientific progress and artistic advances of the time.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30But over the next horizon, iron was about to enter a golden age
0:20:30 > 0:20:33where its decorative potential would be exploited like nothing before.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36In this era, what would drive ironwork forward
0:20:36 > 0:20:39would come from beyond the country's shores.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51This is William III's Hampton Court,
0:20:51 > 0:20:57rebuilt in 1689 by the country's leading architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59William and Mary had crossed the sea from Holland
0:20:59 > 0:21:03to take the English throne earlier that year, and settled here.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08They wanted a magnificent palace to compete with the baroque palaces of Europe
0:21:08 > 0:21:11and to impress their foreign rivals.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16To realise this, the royal couple employed not only the country's greatest designers,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18but the best craftsmen in Europe
0:21:18 > 0:21:21and the exceptional iron work that they commissioned here
0:21:21 > 0:21:25would raise the bar for blacksmithing in Britain once again.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Jean Tijou is probably the greatest worker in iron,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32certainly of the 18th century.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36His work is totally flamboyant.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39It is really ironwork taken to its absolute limit.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42I mean, some of it you wouldn't believe you could do with iron.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45The skill Tijou brought across the seas
0:21:45 > 0:21:49was a fine new technique called repousse -
0:21:49 > 0:21:51the delicate hammering of sheet iron from the back
0:21:51 > 0:21:57to create decoration in relief which could then be overlaid onto a main iron structure.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Now welded joints were clothed in acanthus leaves, masks,
0:22:01 > 0:22:03and luxuriant vegetation.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08And decorative motifs were given more prominence than structure.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Much of Tijou's repousse work here has been restored,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14but some of his original work survives.
0:22:14 > 0:22:20Well, he must have worked at some high status building
0:22:20 > 0:22:24to have acquired this repousse work that he was a master of.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Little is known of Jean Tijou, the man.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38What we do know is that he was a French Huguenot
0:22:38 > 0:22:40who may have trained at Versailles,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45and his work was so fine that the monarch himself may have recommended him to Wren.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48In the 21 years he worked in England,
0:22:48 > 0:22:54he elevated blacksmithing to a fine art and became THE sought-after named smith.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58But Tijou's gift to British iron,
0:22:58 > 0:23:03and the British blacksmiths to follow him, was not his ironwork alone.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07In 1693, he published a book of groundbreaking designs
0:23:07 > 0:23:10that would revolutionise blacksmithing
0:23:10 > 0:23:14and spread his lavish baroque style throughout the land.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18The frontispiece to the new book of design has an image
0:23:18 > 0:23:21which we think may be the only image of Tijou.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26He's described as being dressed in a riding coat, so this must be him.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31Whether this is Tijou or not, with this book his legacy was forged.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35In Jean Tijou, the blacksmith had become a designer.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37And in the burgeoning British economy of the 18th century,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40the designer in iron would be crucial.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45England's power balance was shifting.
0:23:45 > 0:23:51Wealth and power was spreading from the church and monarchy into the hands of the landed gentry.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Wealthy landowners were the new patrons
0:23:54 > 0:23:57and the gardens of their country estates became major statements
0:23:57 > 0:24:00about money, sophistication, and power.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03For the new breed of blacksmith designers,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06this was their professional playground.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Some of the most spectacular wrought iron was produced in the 18th century.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14There are very good examples by named blacksmiths in various parts of England,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18whether it's Oxford, Cambridge, London, the west, Bristol, Wales,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22very good examples where wrought iron was used to its full advantage.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27Regional landowners commissioned the finest local smiths they could find.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33Their appetite for iron allowed master smiths, inspired by Jean Tijou, to develop their own style.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38Thomas Robinson had worked under Tijou at St Paul's
0:24:38 > 0:24:41but now made his own mark in gates for Oxford and Cambridge colleges.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44William Edney impressed in Bristol
0:24:44 > 0:24:46and the Davis brothers captured the market in Wales.
0:24:46 > 0:24:52It's hand worked and in many of these examples you can really visualise the iron being pulled and twisted
0:24:52 > 0:24:58and fantastic effects of acanthus leaves, of scrolls, of twisted stems.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01It was recognised that an enormous amount of skill was involved
0:25:01 > 0:25:03in producing these creations in wrought iron.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09If Tijou brought a continental baroque across the seas,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12now these named smiths were heading up the British baroque
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and their subtler application of Tijou's designs
0:25:16 > 0:25:20was more suited to a restrained British palate.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23The 18th-century really was the golden age for ironwork.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Simon Grant-Jones is a specialist blacksmith who draws heavily
0:25:28 > 0:25:32on the styles and techniques from this golden age.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37Today, Simon is busy working on a baroque style wheel for Kingston Maurward in Dorset.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40The ironwork was beautifully done
0:25:40 > 0:25:44and then it was further enhanced by laying over the top
0:25:44 > 0:25:47these acanthus leaves which we call faced acanthus leaves.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49They're actually on the face of the ironwork.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Simon draws much of his inspiration from one blacksmith
0:25:53 > 0:25:59now recognised as perhaps the finest of the 18th century, Robert Bakewell.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03It was the unique and ambitious piece Bakewell made here
0:26:03 > 0:26:06at Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire that helped make his name.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13In 1706, the right honourable Thomas Cook
0:26:13 > 0:26:17was modifying the family's country residence at Melbourne
0:26:17 > 0:26:23and wanted to design a splendid garden with the latest features popular on the continent.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28Impressed by the work of a local blacksmith, Cook commissioned a young Robert Bakewell
0:26:28 > 0:26:32to make him an arbour directly opposite the hall.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36The idea came from the wooden trellis work arbours
0:26:36 > 0:26:38which were popular in England and France,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43but no one had attempted such a structure in wrought iron before.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54This is just absolutely overwhelming.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Once you get inside and you look up at this dome,
0:26:57 > 0:26:59it's almost like St Paul's Cathedral itself.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01It's fantastic, absolutely amazing.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04You can see that it's all got its purpose.
0:27:04 > 0:27:11Very, very busy, and I think the real art to ironwork such as this
0:27:11 > 0:27:14is that you can't see everything in one look.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16You've got to stand here. I could stand here for hours
0:27:16 > 0:27:20and look at this, and see something different every time.
0:27:28 > 0:27:29I can see some of the repousse work.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33This in particular is really well-defined
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and you can see how the design just jumps out at you.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39These acanthus leaves, they're all beaten out of wrought iron
0:27:39 > 0:27:45and they're riveted into place, but they look as if they are growing from the design,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47which is how they're supposed to look.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54This is just oozing life.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01These water leaves, bearing in mind they're really thin,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04they're probably only a couple of millimetres thick
0:28:04 > 0:28:10and they would have had to have been fire welded onto this main bar which is a really difficult thing to do.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12I'm sure he must have messed up quite a few of these,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16as we all do when we're making these because it's got to be just right.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Too hot and you melt the lot and it's gone, just like that.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42A lot of people criticise this mask as being comic on the front,
0:28:42 > 0:28:47and Bakewell was obviously a very well accomplished repousse worker
0:28:47 > 0:28:52and I'm sure if he'd wanted to do something more spectacular, then he could have done.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54It's well within his capabilities.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58My personal feeling is that he was probably having a little bit of a dig at somebody.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Sometimes it's what craftspeople do.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05We have a bit of a sideways snipe at somebody and it's my opinion
0:29:05 > 0:29:09that Bakewell was probably having a bit of a snipe at somebody.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10Maybe his rich patron?
0:29:17 > 0:29:21Robert Bakewell lived and worked on this estate for seven years.
0:29:21 > 0:29:26The birdcage was his masterpiece, but his time here was busy.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29His contract included making all the ironwork in the grounds
0:29:29 > 0:29:31and he made it all here
0:29:31 > 0:29:34in this small cottage in the shadow of his master's house.
0:29:39 > 0:29:40This would have been his hearth.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47There would have been a set of bellows somewhere externally fed into the fire
0:29:47 > 0:29:51and there would have been a handle at easy reach somewhere around here
0:29:51 > 0:29:55that the smith could work the bellows and control the fire.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58And, when you're quenching in here,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01you would have had the steam mixing with the smoke from the fire.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03The smoke from the fire, the fumes from the fire,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06the heat from the fire, the glare of the fire.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11It must have been quite unbearable at times to work in such a confined environment.
0:30:11 > 0:30:17Here in the hall, a fragile handwritten letter from the time
0:30:17 > 0:30:22tells us that, as this craftsman scaled new heights of elegance and sophistication,
0:30:22 > 0:30:27his skill was still grossly undervalued by his master.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32What we've got here is a really interesting letter from Thomas Cook's sister, Betsy,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36who was actually running Melbourne Hall when he was in London.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40"He's got a shopfitting up at Derby and is so miserable poor
0:30:40 > 0:30:44"that I believe he can't remove without some money."
0:30:44 > 0:30:49This suggests to me that he was actually still owed money for the wonderful work that he did.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54The blacksmith had come a long way from village toolmaker
0:30:54 > 0:30:58to celebrated designer of magnificent ornamental work.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02But the time-consuming efforts required to handcraft everything
0:31:02 > 0:31:06meant that not only was the finest work reserved for the richest of society,
0:31:06 > 0:31:12but the smith himself could never produce enough work to make a substantial fortune.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18But with the dawning of the industrial era,
0:31:18 > 0:31:24ironwork would be mass produced and fortunes were about to be made.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39The age of the engineer and the entrepreneur was about to begin.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Those who grasped that growing molten metal on vast new scales
0:31:43 > 0:31:48of quantity and size would move the story of metalwork forwards apace.
0:31:58 > 0:32:04In 1779, when Abraham Darby built the world's first iron bridge here in Shropshire,
0:32:04 > 0:32:08he built it from an entirely different kind of iron - cast iron.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15Now iron could not only be used to decorate the houses and gardens of the very rich,
0:32:15 > 0:32:21it could also be used as a structural material on an unprecedented scale.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27This bridge was the first step in showing iron's huge structural and industrial potential.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35It's the epitome of what you could do with iron on a large scale.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39There's 378 tonnes of iron in that structure.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43Iron wasn't used in those quantities 70 years before,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46iron was the reserve of the fixtures and fittings
0:32:46 > 0:32:50in a different world that was made out of wood, stone, and dead animals,
0:32:50 > 0:32:55but now you could use iron in its own right to produce huge dramatic structures.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28This is Coalbrookdale in Shropshire.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Today it's a World Heritage site
0:33:30 > 0:33:35but at the start of the 18th century this coal-rich village on the River Severn
0:33:35 > 0:33:38would give birth to the modern industry.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46Darby's bridge was a monument to the dream started here by his grandfather 70 years earlier.
0:33:46 > 0:33:53When Abraham Darby I came here in 1707, he wasn't making bridges.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56He started out with the humble cooking pot.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59If you look at the cast iron cooking pot, it's quite a simple thing.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03This was a time when people roasted things or boiled things,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06there wasn't much else to do, so everybody wanted one of these things.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12Up till now, cast iron was used to make specialised heat-resistant products
0:34:12 > 0:34:15like cannon and firebacks,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18but Abraham Darby had worked in the brass trade
0:34:18 > 0:34:22where they were perfecting fine casting of cooking pots.
0:34:22 > 0:34:28Now the young innovator saw the potential for the mass production of everyday objects from the metal.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31There's no new technology here, all the technology was around,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34but what he then does is bring iron to it.
0:34:35 > 0:34:42Cast iron had come to England in 1496 with the arrival of the blast furnace from Europe.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46It was iron with a higher carbon content than pure wrought iron,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49superheated until it melted in the new hotter furnaces.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53Casting is the quickest way of making quite a complicated shape.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56You make the mould, you pour the liquid metal in,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00the liquid metal freezes off, and there's your finished product.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04Traditional charcoal furnaces could only produce small amounts of iron
0:35:04 > 0:35:09but the scale of Darby's ambition needed something with a bit more kick.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12Coke, the new wonder fuel, burnt at higher temperatures
0:35:12 > 0:35:14and for longer than charcoal.
0:35:14 > 0:35:19Coke came from coal and Derby knew he would find plenty here.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24The whole point about the gorge is it cuts through the bottom, along the Shropshire coalfield.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26This... Leafy, as it is today,
0:35:26 > 0:35:31it was one of the busiest coalfields in the world at the beginning of the 18th century.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34It all happened here because you've got all the ingredients.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Not only have you got the raw materials, but you've also crucially got that river,
0:35:38 > 0:35:40and the river was essential because it's the river
0:35:40 > 0:35:44that brought the entrepreneurs up and allowed them to get their raw materials down.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47It's all here on the coalfield.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18This is how the iron bridge would have been made. You can see inside the mould
0:36:18 > 0:36:21because you haven't got protection from the top half of the mould,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24but that should solidify now and leave you with an open cast.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Today, furnaces at Coalbrookdale are still active,
0:36:36 > 0:36:39part tourist attraction, part working foundry,
0:36:39 > 0:36:44they're using age-old methods passed down from Abraham Darby's time.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46This is the coke that Abraham Darby discovered.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48This is going to be the heat source
0:36:48 > 0:36:50that will melt the iron into a liquid.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54From two seemingly modest innovations,
0:36:54 > 0:37:00casting iron pots and smelting with coke, Darby had invented an affordable means of mass production
0:37:00 > 0:37:04and the seeds of Britain's industrial revolution were sown.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07It's a small step then. If you can make a cooking pot,
0:37:07 > 0:37:10you can make engine components, you can make machine components.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Moulding those in sand, you can mass-produce them
0:37:14 > 0:37:19so all of that comes together in Coalbrookdale by the middle of the 18th century.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22They kind of write the book on how to make iron on a large scale.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28In the 18th century, men of industry and ideas would thrust iron forward.
0:37:28 > 0:37:34In 1796, Charles Bage designed the world's first iron framed building.
0:37:36 > 0:37:42Paintings of the time put the cast iron foundry at the heart of Britain's new industrial landscape
0:37:42 > 0:37:49and reflected the ambivalence of a population both excited by and fearful of their changing world.
0:37:51 > 0:37:56But Coalbrookdale had sown a seed that was to grow and grow.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00In the north, a Scottish powerhouse of cast iron was emerging.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Manned to the hilt and just as innovative in their approach,
0:38:03 > 0:38:08the vision of the Carron Company was somewhat different.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11The Carron company was established in 1759
0:38:11 > 0:38:15and it was the first large-scale industrial concern in Scotland.
0:38:15 > 0:38:16It was incredibly important.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20It really established the possibilities of cast iron for decoration.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23They produced the most amazing variety of works
0:38:23 > 0:38:27so their output was vast and various.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32Everything from pots and pans to these very elegant pedestal stoves and hob grates
0:38:32 > 0:38:35which were the top end of their domestic products.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43From the breadth of their products to their early use of trade catalogues,
0:38:43 > 0:38:48the Carron company pioneered high-end mass produced cast iron.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55And when they teamed up with the most extraordinary designer of the day,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58they would transform Georgian architecture.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03Robert Adam was the most celebrated and prolific architect of his day.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06He was producing works in the style that had become so fashionable.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10It was light, it was elegant, it was sophisticated,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13it was the high end of design and in terms of ironwork,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15the partnership between a very successful designer
0:39:15 > 0:39:20and this extremely effective and efficient production company,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23which the Carron company was, was extremely successful in the 18th century.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28With mass production came the mass market,
0:39:28 > 0:39:35and where before there was one patron commissioning bespoke wrought iron, now there were many.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39The new urban chattering classes had money
0:39:39 > 0:39:44and wanted style that spoke of their status, but for an affordable price.
0:39:44 > 0:39:50Adam caught that style, he caught that view that people wanted to have a elegant houses
0:39:50 > 0:39:54and yet not have to pay as much money as they would have had with other materials.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56Adam's design was all about unity
0:39:56 > 0:40:00and it's when we look at the exteriors of his Georgian terraces
0:40:00 > 0:40:04that we can appreciate the full effect of his ornamental cast iron.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Cast iron was perfect for identical multiples,
0:40:07 > 0:40:11so in a Georgian terrace of houses, you wanted each balcony to look exactly the same.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14You didn't want the individual flair of wrought iron,
0:40:14 > 0:40:18you wanted a unified look, a unified appearance
0:40:18 > 0:40:19of a whole row of houses together,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23and so the whole idea of replicating an object again and again
0:40:23 > 0:40:27exactly the same, but using these wonderfully elegant designs,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30was really what the architects were after.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Without cast iron, the streets would be pretty bare.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38We take for granted sometimes the balconies, the railings,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40the lamp holders, the brackets.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44There's a whole range of different objects where cast iron has been used across the country.
0:40:44 > 0:40:50It's the combination of function and ornament which is cast iron's real strength.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55The Georgian era brought the finest mass produced iron to a broader swathe of society.
0:40:55 > 0:41:00The vogue for cast iron on our streets would last well into Queen Victoria's reign
0:41:00 > 0:41:03and change the visual landscape of our cities.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Now, iron was everywhere.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Cast iron brought decorative metal to the masses
0:41:20 > 0:41:23and also offered strength in compression
0:41:23 > 0:41:26that lent itself to bridges and supporting columns for buildings,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29but wrought iron, too, would find a very important role of its own.
0:41:29 > 0:41:35It was bendy and offered far greater strength in tension than cast iron.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39And those who discovered how to make wrought iron on an unprecedented scale
0:41:39 > 0:41:43helped thrust Britain forward into the industrial age.
0:41:43 > 0:41:48The smith has always been at the forefront of technology and industry.
0:41:48 > 0:41:55Once he'd learnt how to smelt iron, he's always wanted to make more,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58but he was limited by his knowledge of the material
0:41:58 > 0:42:04and the size of the furnace that he could make, and also the blast.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06The amount of air that he could pump in.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16In the 19th century, new, better smelting processes could produce more iron
0:42:16 > 0:42:20with large blooms heated in powerful furnaces.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25Now, alongside cast, wrought iron, the original blacksmiths material,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30had scaled up and could be rolled out with the new industrial machines.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32We were conquering the world, if you like, at that stage
0:42:32 > 0:42:36and iron was the wonder material.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43This stronger iron was now needed to be rolled to make rails for the railways
0:42:43 > 0:42:47and beaten and pulled into sheets for panels to make warships.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50An iron boat could actually carry more than a timber boat.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54It was more robust, would have a longer life.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Wrought iron was in higher demand than ever before.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01The new blacksmiths were technicians and engineers,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04making big strong structures for industry.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15As the 19th century progressed,
0:43:15 > 0:43:21the great architects of the high Victorian era would recognise the immense potential
0:43:21 > 0:43:25for wrought and cast iron in new forms of civic architecture.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38The first iron and glass buildings were greenhouses for Victorian botanical collections,
0:43:38 > 0:43:45like the Palm House at Kew. When this was built in 1844, it set a precedent.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50Cast iron was used for the uprights, and wrought iron used to span large horizontal widths.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54But the greatest feat of Victorian iron architecture
0:43:54 > 0:43:59was Joseph Paxton's giant glasshouse for the great exhibition of 1851,
0:43:59 > 0:44:04a network of iron poles sustaining pains of clear glass
0:44:04 > 0:44:08that became known as the Crystal Palace.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10The innovation of the Crystal Palace
0:44:10 > 0:44:13is the employment of a modular construction
0:44:13 > 0:44:16which is completely prefabricated.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21It's made of many different units, replicated over and over again,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23cast and wrought.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29In Crystal Palace, the architect and engineer
0:44:29 > 0:44:34finally understood how to make structural ironwork on its own terms.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Their breakthrough allowed them to create
0:44:36 > 0:44:42this unprecedentedly huge exhibition space from glass and iron.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45I think one of the most astonishing parts of this story
0:44:45 > 0:44:51is that Joseph Paxton is always credited as the creator of the Crystal Palace,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54and famously he drew it on the back of a napkin.
0:44:54 > 0:45:00What is forgotten is that his partner, and the person who actually make this dream come true,
0:45:00 > 0:45:04was the ironmaster, who is Charles Fox of Smethwick.
0:45:04 > 0:45:11Paxton, sent by penny post the minute he'd won the competition for the exhibition hall,
0:45:11 > 0:45:16he sent a letter to Charles Fox to start making the multiple pieces
0:45:16 > 0:45:20that were required, and Charles Fox managed in less than a year
0:45:20 > 0:45:23on time, on budget, to get the whole thing assembled.
0:45:23 > 0:45:29Tragically, Fox's masterpiece was destroyed by fire in 1936,
0:45:29 > 0:45:33but the technology he brokered in Crystal Palace didn't die in the flames.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43It was also deployed to hugely impressive effect
0:45:43 > 0:45:47in the new style railway station architecture.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52Fast and dignified train sheds needed to serve the new railway age.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59Railway stations are probably the best example
0:45:59 > 0:46:02of cast iron and wrought iron being used together.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06You go into any Victorian or Edwardian railway station for that matter
0:46:06 > 0:46:10and have a look up - cast iron columns, wrought iron beams.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15By the Victorian period, the design of the structures was really cracked.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Crystal Palace had been twice the size of St Paul's Cathedral,
0:46:19 > 0:46:24but in 1868, St Pancras made it look small.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29The new station became the largest enclosed space in the world.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31William Henry Barlow's triumphant train shed
0:46:31 > 0:46:34had a single span of 74 metres
0:46:34 > 0:46:38rising 30 metres high in a wrought iron arch
0:46:38 > 0:46:43with the undercroft area spaced by over 800 cast iron pillars.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47These are the great glasshouses of Victorian Britain.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52Here, wrought and cast iron are used harmoniously together for their strengths.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56In architectural terms, they're the cathedrals of their day.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02In 1850, Britain was the centre of the Great British empire
0:47:02 > 0:47:05and the centre of modern industry.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07A place the rest of the world could only aspire to,
0:47:07 > 0:47:13but in the Victorian age, Britain would sell her image of progress across the world.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17Walter MacFarlane was the man behind Saracen foundry,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21the greatest cast iron exporter of the late Victorian era.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26By 1871, his prolific foundry in Possil, Glasgow
0:47:26 > 0:47:32had turned a tiny suburb into a thriving hub of global industry.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34But it wasn't only a factory.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38Saracens was also a vast showroom, where prefabricated goods,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42from gutters and bandstands to entire railway stations,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44were proudly displayed.
0:47:45 > 0:47:51What Walter MacFarlane did was take the vision for marketing,
0:47:51 > 0:47:55and this concept of, you know, the IKEA of the day,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58the cast iron catalogue, hundreds of pages long,
0:47:58 > 0:48:03and being able to put structures together and order them from the other side of the world.
0:48:03 > 0:48:04That was his gift.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09Saracen baths and bandstands, fountains and even whole building facades,
0:48:09 > 0:48:14are still to be found the world over from Madras in India to Mendoza in Argentina.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21If you were an Indian prince and you wanted to have a state-of-the-art building,
0:48:21 > 0:48:25you would use cast iron to demonstrate how up-to-date you were
0:48:25 > 0:48:29and there was a cachet about having a structure made
0:48:29 > 0:48:32from the famous Saracen ironworks and shipped to your country, overseas.
0:48:34 > 0:48:41Today, Saracen is no more, but Laing's foundry is a small family business in Edinburgh
0:48:41 > 0:48:44doing its best to keep the traditions alive.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49Using Saracen's original designs, they cast iron in the traditional way
0:48:49 > 0:48:53and are still exporting ornamental iron all around the world.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56We are producing the cast iron griffin,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59which is from the Drayton Fountain of Walter MacFarlane's design.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03McFarlane's castings, volume number two of the catalogue.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10Here we are, here.
0:49:12 > 0:49:13The 21.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17You can see here at the top above the arches, the griffins,
0:49:17 > 0:49:19which we've been working on today.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Nothing here is different from in MacFarlane's day.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27A three-dimensional wooden pattern is still used to make the mould out of sand.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30The only difference is that on the Saracen's shop floor
0:49:30 > 0:49:35a large workforce was busy making a huge array of objects.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Walter MacFarlane had a vision of a world full of iron.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Street scene of Walter MacFarlane's, which they envisaged.
0:49:43 > 0:49:48You can clearly see the cast iron lamp columns and lamp posts.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50The horse trough with a column on it
0:49:50 > 0:49:53and even a cast iron urinal in the centre.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58A great age it was within the Victorian time.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02It was the material of its time. You can only compare it now to plastic.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05When you think of all the items we use in plastic today,
0:50:05 > 0:50:09it was the equivalent back then, but all in cast iron. Phenomenal.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18The blue flames coming from the mould is just hydrogen gas,
0:50:18 > 0:50:24which was formed by the molten metal coming into contact with the damp sand.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29At one point we had 500 foundries in Scotland doing architectural iron
0:50:29 > 0:50:31and they were all competing against each other.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35Not necessarily on price, but on the quality and standard and what they could supply.
0:50:39 > 0:50:45I'm just trying to break open the mould while it is still warm like this, just to let you see it.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49Everything looks fine. You can see the shape of that coming through.
0:50:49 > 0:50:50It looks good.
0:50:52 > 0:50:59Today, Laing's foundry is doing its best to keep the tradition of Great British cast iron alive.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02A throwback to the days of the Empire, when Britain was in the business
0:51:02 > 0:51:05of exporting its ideology to all corners of the globe.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11Back home though, the market was more sophisticated
0:51:11 > 0:51:17and all was not lost for the individual, designing and crafting in iron.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21The idea of bespoke pieces with great skilled smiths behind them
0:51:21 > 0:51:25would be resurrected in the work of the most prolific architect of the day,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27George Gilbert Scott.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37Scott was an impassioned trailblazer for the Gothic revival,
0:51:37 > 0:51:43a movement which looked to the mediaeval past for inspiration.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46He was commissioned to make this screen for Hereford Cathedral
0:51:46 > 0:51:49on the strength of his work designing new churches
0:51:49 > 0:51:53and restoring traditional choir screens.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57The Hereford screen was a luxuriously extravagant exhibition piece
0:51:57 > 0:52:02with a whole host of techniques working in harmony.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04A jewel in the story of iron.
0:52:04 > 0:52:10It is made of a huge variety of different metals - copper,
0:52:10 > 0:52:15electroformed copper, brass, and, above all, iron,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19wrought and cast iron, and painted.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24The cast iron, rather like lamp posts,
0:52:24 > 0:52:29are the bases of the columns, covered now in stencilling, rather colourful.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34Those are definitely cast iron, rather like drainpipes.
0:52:34 > 0:52:35Fancy drainpipes.
0:52:35 > 0:52:41The wrought iron are the lovely grills, four on each side,
0:52:41 > 0:52:44and the gates, in part.
0:52:44 > 0:52:50Those are all wrought iron with the little leaves and the passion flowers
0:52:50 > 0:52:54in the middle of those quatrefoils, all painted now and gilded.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56All of that is wrought.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59When George Gilbert Scott was given the commission,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02he called on the skills of Francis Skidmore,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05an exceptional metal smith and a Gothic revivalist
0:53:05 > 0:53:09who worked iron using the traditional craftsmanship of the master blacksmith.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13Francis Skidmore was a remarkable, versatile man,
0:53:13 > 0:53:19born in 1816 and died in 1896 so he was a real man of the 19th century.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22His father was a silversmith and jeweller,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26and the two of them worked together in the 1840s on precious metal,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30but Skidmore became much more interested in base metal,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33in copper and, above all, iron. He was obsessed about iron,
0:53:33 > 0:53:40and by the 1860s had a very large workshop, and a workforce of over 200 people.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43This work was a collaboration,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47a vision in many metals including irons cast and wrought,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51but it was also the creation of two men, designer and smith.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56Scott and Skidmore clearly got on, though we know from Scott's biography
0:53:56 > 0:54:00that he found Skidmore a little bit annoying sometimes.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05"Mr Skidmore has kicked over the traces" is one phrase that I seem to remember.
0:54:05 > 0:54:11In other words, Skidmore obviously received Scott's designs and then added a bit.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18We don't know how much Skidmore designed
0:54:18 > 0:54:24but the Hereford screen couldn't have been made without the fine artistry of the blacksmith.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28When it was shown at the International exhibition in 1862,
0:54:28 > 0:54:34it was heralded the grandest, most triumphal achievement of architectural art.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36Further endorsement came just a year later
0:54:36 > 0:54:39when Scott won the commission for the Albert Memorial
0:54:39 > 0:54:43and the duo produced another collaborative triumph.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00But in this era of Victorian ingenuity,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03far larger forces were at work.
0:55:03 > 0:55:09One man's invention was about to change the course of history for iron and its craftsmen.
0:55:11 > 0:55:19In 1855, engineer Henry Bessemer patented his converter for turning iron into steel,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23which was wrought iron with a tiny amount of carbon added to strengthen it.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28With steel now cheaper to produce than it had been, and far stronger than wrought,
0:55:28 > 0:55:33it took over from iron in large-scale industry overnight.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38Today, working smiths have to use either recycled iron or mild steel
0:55:38 > 0:55:44as Britain's last commercial wrought ironworks closed its doors in 1974.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Working wrought iron is really totally different to working steel
0:55:52 > 0:55:56and I actually know some old blacksmiths who gave up forge working in the 1970s
0:55:56 > 0:56:02because the steel that they were now forced to use was too hard to hammer.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Steel is superseded wrought iron and steel is much harder to work
0:56:08 > 0:56:13but the techniques and the processes are basically the same as working wrought iron.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17Speaking of today, the early 21st century,
0:56:17 > 0:56:21end of the last century, I suppose there are three influences at work.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26There is the continuance of the conservative tradition.
0:56:26 > 0:56:31Naturally the need to repair 18th-century gates, particularly,
0:56:31 > 0:56:37but also the wish of many people to have 18th-century-style ironwork.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44There's the work being done by people who are using modern tools
0:56:44 > 0:56:47and creating modern designs,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50but very much in the blacksmithing tradition.
0:56:56 > 0:57:02Finally, there's the use of iron in a non-blacksmithing context.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05The use of iron by designers like Wendy Ramshaw
0:57:05 > 0:57:08who was trained as a jeweller, is a wonderful jeweller,
0:57:08 > 0:57:12startling new gates and grills.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16Now, niche markets for traditional work
0:57:16 > 0:57:20and new architectural commissions are keeping the craft and design alive.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25The story of the blacksmith is twofold.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30In iron, art and science have come together.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36Iron has used technology's advances to propel us forward.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40It has given us protection and strength,
0:57:40 > 0:57:46and transformed Britain into an industrial force on a national and global stage.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49But right from the start,
0:57:49 > 0:57:55the ironworker's urge to individualise and decorate his work has also given us beauty.
0:57:57 > 0:58:02In our churches, on our houses, and on our streets.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07The blacksmith has shaped our world.