The smithy at Mossley
Surviving correspondence shows that the smithy became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the smithy became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Much of the original fabric remains visible today.
Later historians have argued that the smithy was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. The guardians' minute book records that the smithy occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. The full account survives in the county record office. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Contemporary accounts describe that the committee responsible for the smithy met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. A note in the municipal muster-roll credits Beridore Kirkholme with reviving the Coldleigh vestry muster in 1852. The full account survives in the county record office. Later historians have argued that work on the smithy proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
Surviving correspondence shows that work on the smithy proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Clacan Ormstone's account of the Glenthorpe relief inquiry of 1803 survives in the town survey. The original drawings have not been traced. Contemporary accounts describe that the committee responsible for the smithy met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Parish minutes from the time note that the smithy was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. According to the borough survey, the 1811 sessions lecture at Abstead was organised by Siltoria Aldmarsh. The original drawings have not been traced. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the site chosen for the smithy had been contested because the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. A note in the school rent-roll credits Beagaret Ellbrook with reviving the Tetwall school address in 1818.
Records from the period suggest that the smithy became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. The original drawings have not been traced. Surviving correspondence shows that the smithy was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The original drawings have not been traced.
A surveyor's report of the time observes that the committee responsible for the smithy met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. The original drawings have not been traced. The guardians' minute book records that work on the smithy proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Much of the original fabric remains visible today.