Visitors to Chiltern Open Air Museum can immerse themselves in the past: admire a reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse, wander around a Victorian toll house, step inside a tin chapel, and even witness the craftmanship of a blacksmith at work in a genuine 19th century forge.
The museum, located in Chalfont St Peter, was founded in 1976 to rescue and restore historic buildings in the local area which might otherwise be destroyed and lost forever. Rescued buildings are carefully taken apart, transported to the museum site, and meticulously reassembled.
The museum’s Victorian blacksmith’s forge was initially constructed in the rear garden of 51 Horseshoe Lane, Garston, in around 1860. For more than six decades, from the early 1860s until 1926, it served as the workspace for members of the Martin family, who practised their trade within its walls.
Following its use as a forge, the building transitioned into storage use until the site’s sale for development in 1982. The forge fell into disrepair and permission was given for its demolition. After realising its historical value, the building was saved and donated to the Chiltern Open Air Museum.
Chalfonts & Gerrards Cross News spoke to Steve Draper, whose grandparents were the final owners of the forge before it was sold to the museum.
He said: “The house was my nan and grandad’s for many years. We kept our speedboat and cabin cruiser in the forge and, many years ago, my dad’s motorbike. My dad was a builder and my grandad often helped him. The large metal plate outside the forge still has cement on it from when my dad and grandad used to knock up cement on it.
“The house was called Church Cottage and had a cellar where my grandad used to make wine and beer and store it. All year, it stayed the same temperature, give or take a few degrees. There was some brickwork running along just under the gutter in the shape of a ladder. My grandad said it was once a pub called The Ladders.
“When my grandad died, it had to be sold. I seem to recall it went for about £60,000 at the time. I still have a photo of me as a teenager sitting outside the forge.”
The forge walls are made from 7,200 bricks, many of them marked with the initials ‘JC’ for the John Chapman brickworks in Garston. There are 850 grey slate tiles on the roof, originally from North Wales and transported to the site by canal, under 28 decorative clay ridge tiles.
The forge’s hearth, originating from Naphill, aligns with the original foundations and date. The bellows, a crucial component of the forge, were sourced from Leavesden Hospital, a former mental health facility in Abbots Langley.
The forge was used as the filming location for the murder scene in the ITV series The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
The forge, now safely within the museum, stands as a tangible testament to the enduring legacy of the Martin family and the industrial heritage of Garston.
Photo Credit: Chiltern Open Air Museum
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