As part of the 900th anniversary of Reading Abbey, we have commissioned a series of videos demonstrating how blacksmiths would have worked for and around Reading Abbey. These amazing videos show the incredible skill of blacksmiths in the Medieval period. Please see below to learn more about how knives, brooches and even nails were forged!
Thomas Timbrell of Big Beynon's Blacksmithing is a professional blacksmith, cutler and living historian who studies the lives of blacksmiths throughout history. He specialises in recreating knives, cutlery and other artefacts found across Britain and Europe, attempting to bring the archeology back to life so we can see how they may have looked when they were first made. In this short series of films, he plans to take you into the world of the Medieval blacksmith, showing you how they forged items such as nails and knives, what role the blacksmith played in society and whether the techniques used have changed 900 years on.
