Tools and Trades History Society - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Tools and Trades History Society

Heavy Edge

Tools

Social History & Case Study

(

Fussells

- the

Mells

Ironworks)

Presented by

Bob BurgessSlide2

Despite their importance, tools are a little valued part of social history. In France they are considered to be an integral part of the

‘Art

Populaire’ , but in the UK the equivalent, Folk Art, concentrates more on artefacts and art work, such as Canal Art, than the tools used to make them. Part of this is probably due to the relatively low value attached to old tools, but also that they are a ‘hidden’ object often confined to dirty workshop locations. Also because old tools rarely survive as they are often used until they are worn out and then discarded.

In the early 1920’s the American archaeologist and artefact collector, Henry Chapman Mercer, visited the UK and scoured scrap-yards looking for old tools, to form the basis of his collection (now housed at the Mercer Museum at Doylestown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania USA) and the subject of his book Ancient Carpenters’ Tools published in 1929. He noted how few pre 19

th

century tools could be found. The scrap metal drives of the WW1 a few years earlier, and WW2 a few years later, would have seen the loss of many old tools. This would have been acerbated by the changes in manufacturing and industry, and also in agriculture which saw mechanisation replace hand processes, and thus the tools becoming redundant or obsolete..Slide3

The context of old tools is as important as the tools themselves. Two main areas of social history are defined by the maker and the user.

Who used it??

Who made it??

How was it made???

How was it used???

In the larger cities crafts were controlled by guilds, but in the rural areas where pre 1800 the majority of the population lived, they were often made by the blacksmith and used locally. Other more specialist tools were obtained from the local market where produce and livestock was sold, or from the travelling peddlers and

coleporters

.

Pre the Industrial Revolution, tool-making used to be carried in many places other than the manufacturing centres of the Midlands. Most villages were self sufficient, you could obtain all almost you needed for life from the craftsmen who lived and worked there – the village blacksmith was often the source for the tools and iron work for all of the other village trades.Slide4

The Village Trades:

Carpenter/Joiner/Cabinet maker/Undertaker:

Builder/Mason/Lime Burner:

Shoe maker/Cobbler:

Tailor/Seamstress/Milliner:

Leather worker/ Harness maker/ Sadder:

Farmer/Small holder:

Wheelwright/Coach builder/Cart maker:

Wet Cooper/Dry Cooper:

Woodsman/Coppice worker/ Charcoal burner:

Thatcher/Roofer/Slater:

Most villages were self sufficient had some or all of the following:

All of whom required iron and steel tools made by the local blacksmithSlide5

.

Rural Edge Tool Makers were established in many counties, e.g.:

Wiltshire : Down (Mere), Buckland (Netheravon, near Salisbury )Somerset: Padfield

, Steed (

Ashwick

), Fussell (

Mells

&

Nunney

, near Frome)

Devon: Finch (

Sticklepath

), Loder (East Ogwell, near Newton Abbot), Knapman

(Harburton near Totnes), Lidstone (Kingsbridge near Torquay),

Helson later Morris (Dunsford in the middle of Dartmore). Knapman closd in the 1940’s, Finch survived until the 1960’s & Morris is still operating as a family concern.

In the larger towns and cities crafts were run by the guilds. These often became powerful organisations, controlling who could make what, where and how much it was going to cost. Whereas in the country villages division of labour was largely unknown, in the towns and cities it became more specialised.

Later specialist edge tool makers became established, and they further divided into other area such as scythe and sickle makers, cutlers and armourers.

Certain areas became specialised, e.g. Salisbury was a centre for cutlery, ditto Cirencester, later with the Industrial Revolution to be superseded by Sheffield. Some managed to survive into the late 19

th,

even into the 20

th

century..Slide6

Tools would have been made locally, sold locally and used locally.

Later post 1800, Industrial Revolution industry became more centralised, the scale of production increased and the cost of iron and steel fell, lowering costs. Canals, and later railways allowed cheap transport of raw materials and delivery of products.

Fussells

of

Mells

are an example of a small rural maker who became a large well known maker of edge tools. Their expansion into a large manufactory and their subsequent decline and closure is a good example of the pitfalls that stood in the way of progress in the years following the Industrial Revolution.

Mells

had a history of iron working in the locality from the 13th century, and in the 1500’s was known as the

Iron Burgh

Founded in 1744 by James Fussell (

lll

) of Stoke Lane on land leased from the Horner Estate at

Mells

to erect "

a good,

firme

and

substantiall

Mill or Mills for Grinding Edge Tools and forging Iron plates

". By the late 18th/early 19th century branches of the

Mells

concern were established at Great Elm,

Chantry

and

Railford

and his son John was operating at nearby

Nunney

in 1791. Slide7

Stoke Lane is the old name for nearby Stoke St Michael, about 5 miles to the west of

Mells

.

In the village of

Chantry

, where

Fussells

also had a works, they funded

creation of the parish and the

building of the village church in the

1840’s. The church is,

decorated with gargoyles holding edge tools

. They are also found on the over-mantle of

Chantry House built for James Fussell (lV) in 1820.Slide8

Somerset in the West of England was a rural county with an agrarian economy, however the Mendip Hills were also rich in minerals, and thus there was also a large mining industry. There was thus a good market for farming hand tools, and also tools for the mining industry. Being far from the large industrial centres of the north, competition was negligible until the arrival of the railways at Frome in 1850 and

Radstock

in 1854. (James Fussell (lV) was involved with the Dorset & Somerset canal started in 1786, but it was abandoned (unfinished) in 1803 as the company had run out of money – the

Nettlebridge

branch to serve the collieries at

Vobster

and

Coleford

would have passed close to

Mells

).Slide9

Morris's Directory of 1871 lists four Fussell ironworks-linked businesses. These were: James Fussell Sons & Co. -

Mells

Ironworks; John Fussell & Co. - Upper Ironworks (Mells); William A Fussell (handle maker) - Rock House; and Isaac Fussell & Co. of Nunney.

Piggots

’ Directory of 1830 and 1840, also Slater’s of 1852 list:

Isaac Fussell,

Nunney

Iron Works

James Fussell and Sons and Co,

Mells

Iron Works

John Fussell and Co

The trademark FUSSELL MELLS was registered in 1877. Previously tools had been stamped JOHN FUSSELL MELLS or ISAAC FUSSELL NUNNEY – some later also have the JAMES (or Jas) FUSSELL stamp. Those tools just stamped FUSSELL MELLS with non-serif lettering are of a later date, and those with the JF cartouche are almost certainly made by NASH (the JF mark being very similar to the N used by Nash). FUSSELL MELLS IMPROVED and FUSSELL IMPROVED are almost certainly 20

th

centurySlide10

In 1791

Collinson says of

Mells, 'It is worthy of remark that in this sequestered vale there are two iron forges which at this period are carrying on a trade, little inferior, in point of extension, to those in the northern part of this Kingdom. All the Western counties are supplied at these manufactories with every iron implement of husbandry, and their connexions extend to the European and American continents'. By the end of the 18

th

century the Fussell business had become extremely successful.

The

Fussells

’ works depended almost entirely on water power to a late date, although they did use steam in the later years. They also installed rolling mills at the Lower Works at great expense, but seem to have had difficulty in getting these to work satisfactorily. By the time this happened, a catastrophic collapse in English agriculture in the 1870s hit the market for edge tools.Slide11

The prerequisites for a successful maker are:

A market for finished goods:

The availability of raw materials:

A source of motive power:

A skilled Workforce:

Local, national or international

Fuel (charcoal or coal), limestone for flux, iron ore or bought in wrought iron & steel bar, wood for handles

Water power from fast flowing streams

Existing edge tool makers plus in-house traineesSlide12

Raw materials were readily available – both coal and iron ore were in abundance, although it is likely steel and wrought iron were brought in by boat to Bristol, and then by Kennet & Avon canal (opened as far as Devizes by 1801) to

Limpley

Stoke (or the Somerset Coal canal to Midford ) and then by road for the 15 miles to Mells, via Frome. Wood for charcoal and handle making could be obtained from the many local woodlands and forests.

Forges can be divided into two types, hand or water powered –

Fussells

may have started as a hand forge but was soon water powered, using the fast running

Mells

Brook, which although not a large river had a good fall and was well supplied from the rainfall on the Mendips.

Where James Fussell learned his trade is not known, but there were established edge tool works in his birthplace, the nearby village of Stoke Lane. What is certain he was a skilled edge tool maker, and soon expanded his business by hiring in other smiths, or taking on apprentices. By the time of the firm’s failure in the 1890’s they were a large company employing as many as 250 people in a wide range of skills:

platers

, forgers, finishers, grinders, handle turners, straw-rope makers, packers, clerks etcSlide13

At its height the Fussell dynasty had sites at

Mells

(upper and lower works), Great Elm, Chantry, Railford and Nunney. The ruins of the

Mells

sites can be seen from the footpath by the river the others are all on private property.Slide14

On early tools three separate stamps were used, sometimes overlapping; of different sizes; in the wrong order or even upside down….Slide15

The range of tools offered in their catalogue was immense, and although it is likely many were only made to order, patterns of each tool must have been held. Two types of pattern usually exist: an actual example of the tool, or for two dimensional tools such as billhooks, an outline of the blade template. Additionally large folio pattern books were kept, showing the ‘special order’ tools that were not listed in the catalogues. Three books from the period 1844 to 1874 survive and are now in the care of Hampshire County Arts and Museum Service. These show a range of different edge tools, including billhooks, hoes, sickle and also blades for beet (root) and chaff cutters made by local manufacturers such as Reeves of Bratton.

James Fussell (

lll

) probably only made a few dozen tools each week, but by the mid 19

th

century the combined company output was probably in the thousands per week. Over a 150 year period the total output must have run into millions, but today only a small percentage of these survive, and personally I only know of a hundred or so original

Mells

or

Nunney

made tools. Most would have been used until they wore out, and then discarded or scrapped. Pre 1800 tools may have been ‘re-steeled’, i.e. a new steel cutting edge forge welded onto the old body, but later it would have been cheaper to buy a new tool. Often those that survive are little used, having been found at the back of an old shed or barn, where they may have lain forgotten and undisturbed for decades..Slide16
Slide17
Slide18
Slide19

What is known is the

Fussells

’ name was well known, both in Britain and abroad. They are recorded as having exhibited at the 1878 Paris Exhibition (and it is probable they did so elsewhere). In Paris they showed:

Fagotted

scrap steel and bar iron

Patented ‘

Steelheart

’ or ‘Ironclad’ bar for tools and implements

Scythes, reap and other hooks

Hay knives

Patent adjusting scythes

Chaffy engine and machine knives and sections

Other agricultural tools

Pickaxes and sledges

Other mining and railway toolsSlide20

By the mid 1880’s the firm was in decline, and in 1894 they were declared bankrupt. The business and trade were acquired by Isaac Nash of

Belbroughton

in Worcestershire, and by 1895 all production had stopped in the Mells area. Some workers transferred to Nash’s works, but many would have been bound to end their days in the Frome workhouse (which finally closed its doors in the early 20th

century).

In the village of

Chantry

the population fell from 242 in 1851 to 149 in 1901, with 14 cottages standing empty. The situation was probably similar in the other villages.

Late in the life of the Fussell operations there was an attempt at rationalisation with the fusion of the various branches into James, Isaac & John Fussell Ltd,

Mells

and

Nunney

Works, but again it was too late. William A

Fussell’s

company was diversifying, an 1881 advertisement featuring garden chairs, cold frames and propagating stoves.

Nash in turn merged with other edge tool makers Tyzack, Brades, Skelton and in turn became part of the Spear and Jackson group. Both the Fussell and Nash trademarks are still owned by S&J and were in use until the late 20th

century.Slide21

The firm failed for a variety of reasons:

Lack of investment in modern machinery and processes. Roller forging of a blade takes seconds, compared to hammer forging which took several minutes.

Poor transport links – Frome Station was some 3 miles away by road and cart-track.

Lack of interest and input from the family – James Fussell (

lll

) was a working blacksmith and edge tool maker, his heirs saw themselves as gentlemen and although content to take a living from the business did not want to be seen as industrialists (unlike the industrialists of Birmingham & Sheffield).

Limits of the

Mells

site - a long narrow valley, with sheer walls either side prohibited expansion – the other sites used by the company (

Nunney

,

Chantry

and Great Elm) although more open had less water available for power.:

Cheaper goods available from Birmingham and Sheffield, both cities having excellent canal and rail links to ports for export..Slide22

Although Fussell probably produced catalogues of some sort, none are known to have survived apart from one printed in Stourbridge in 1895, the year production moved there after Nash took over the company (reprinted by TATHS in 2001, with an introduction my Mark and Jane Rees). The catalogues were probably printed in large numbers, and given to agents, ironmongers, or tool sellers, but like their tools, very few have survived.Slide23

In 1899 Nash produced their own catalogue, but little mention is made of the Fussell tools, so presumably these were still being listed separately. For billhooks alone they showed 7 pages, over 90 different regional shapes.Slide24

That the Fussell trade name was still well known and used for certain regional sales can be seen in the 1959 and 1960 Brades Nash &

Tyzack

catalogues (with just one entry for the Abingdon pattern).

Note that by this time the Nash trade name had also been relegated to the same status, with Brades predominating…..Slide25

Fussell, Nash, Brades,

Tyzack

and later Elwell and most other English edge tool makers of Birmingham, Cannock and Sheffield all became part oif the Spear & Jackson group, who in turn became part of the Neil Group, and are now amalgamated with the French firm MOB Talabot

(who also started as edge tool makers) – the Fussell trade name is still registered, even if not actually being used today…Slide26

More information on British edge tool makers can be found on the website:

A Load of Old Billhooks

atwww.billhooks.co.uk

Copyright: Bob Burgess Heytesbury, Wilts 2013

on behalf of

Tools and Trades History Society