HEREFORD was a different place back in the days when blacksmiths plied their craft deep in the heart of the city.

There are those who wistfully remember the sights and sounds emanating from Watts & Sons in Blueschool Street, where a family of award-winning blacksmiths shod horses and ponies, ‘re-tyred’ wheels and generally offered a compelling spectacle for passers-by. Among them, Will Watts was known as the ‘Father of Blacksmithing’ in Hereford.

This was many moons before the ring road sliced through the city, when the street was a lively area full of shops and businesses. You could nip into the Vine Inn for a jug of ale, pop up the road for a basin of faggots and peas, see the brewery horses trotting past, their dray laden with Cheltenham & Hereford beer, or watch the progress of women at work feathering poultry.

This area has long been the preserve of Maylord Orchards’ shopping precinct so it’s not easy to imagine when the street rang with the sounds of horses hooves and the clang of iron on anvil.

Wendy Jones, who lives in Kington, grew up in post-war Hereford where her grandfather William Watts ran his successful business. As a young City & Guilds’ diploma student, Wendy chose to conduct a study of the family trade through five generations of ‘shoeingsmiths’ and wheelwrights for her dissertation. It has proved a lasting study of their prized craftsmanship, and a nostalgic glimpse into life in Hereford as it once was.

The Watts’ century-old association with Hereford began with William Watts, born in Birmingham in 1820, the first of five successive blacksmiths bearing the name William Watts. He was to take a job advertised in the Birmingham Post for a shoeing smith at the Green Dragon Posting Station in Hereford. And so a dynasty was born.

His task mainly involved dealing with cab, bus and carriage horses and the repair of broken wheels and axles.

“The cab horses stood in High Town, making short journeys round the city,” writes Wendy. Fares out to areas such as Whitecross and Belmont, where the old city toll gates were sited, were not encouraged. “More fares could be taken on the shorter rides,” Wendy writes.

“The cabs met every train at the railway station.” Competition was stiff between posting stations at other hotels such as The Mitre, The Merton and City Arms. So having built up a good reputation, William set up his own forge in Edgar Street in 1880, in Stonebow Road in 1896, then the shop in Blueschool Street. “By 1913, Bill was a registered shoeing smith with the Worshipful Company of Farriers in London,” says Wendy.

With the onset of war in 1914, Army officers came to Hereford looking to commandeer horses. “Some would be taken out of the shafts of the drays they were pulling and the owner paid on the spot,” she writes.

In 1916 horses were shipped over from Ireland, America and Canada. Arriving off trains at Hereford, horses and mules were walked to the cattle market to be shod and trained to work, eventually bound for Southampton Docks and France. “This took up many hours of Will and Bill’s time,” says Wendy.

And so the family’s craftsmanship continued, a name to be reckoned with in Hereford, at shows across the country, in education, and in the capital. By 1970, the Hereford Times reported how the family had been shoeing Herefordshire equines for almost a century. This was the year when Hereford’s oldest blacksmith’s shop had to leave Blueschool Street to make way for the new relief road, moving lock, stock and barrel to the old family home at Kingsthorne. Mr Watts senior carried out the forge work, while his son lectured at Hereford.

Wendy’s ‘Uncle Will’ was a noted expert in his field, the only farrier in the county to win the national farriery championship. He was to inspire new generations of hopeful blacksmiths and farriers, teaching college students on campus in Folly Lane, and making Hereford an acknowledged centre of excellence. This accolade earned him the title of ‘Father of Blacksmithing’ in his home city. Meanwhile, in 1953, Will received the Freedom of the City of London. On home turf, he was even invited to give a shoeing demonstration on Hereford United’s pitch before a game. The crowds did not have long to wait: Will’s work was done in 12 minutes. His son Billy actually played for United, and introduced weight-training sessions for players at the blacksmiths’ shop!

Will never properly retired, but his fit and industrious son Billy sadly died from cancer in 1977. In the same year, Will retired as official racecourse farrier at Hereford after 55 years’ service. Thus the great and glorious Watts’ line of blacksmiths and wheelwrights ended, though the name lives on in the city, a strong and lasting influence and inspiration for young and aspiring farriers everywhere.