Our traditional heritage
"My name is Eddie Butterfield and I am a Dorset blacksmith and craftsman. I specialise in the restoration of ancient and historic ironwork and have for many years worked with ecclesiastical bodies who value my craftsmanship, knowledge and high standards of authenticity. My interest in our cultural and rural heritage extends to the research and conservation of craft skills, which are fast disappearing elsewhere, and the preservation of rural bygones. I am one of the few in the UK who carefuly restore traditional Shepherd’s Huts and painstakingly create authentic replicas."
The workshop
My cottage lies in a beautiful hamlet adjacent to Bere Regis, it was built in 1848 on the site of a previous older building. The smithy lies behind the cottage adjacent to the Bere Stream, a fine chalk stream favoured for it’s trout fishing. Years ago there was a agricultural contractors here and a water driven saw mill across the meadow. Steam engines and threshing tackle were order of the day , and i am still digging up artefacts in the garden. It was on the old drove way to wood bury hill fair, which was a fair by royal charter for 750 years, I am sure many hundreds of sheep cattle and horses passed this way over the years. It is a most beautiful and tranquil setting in which to work, and I consider myself extremely fortunate when on my daily commute to work (about 50’).
"research and
craft skills, which are
fast disappearing
elsewhere"
My Grandfather William Butterfield
"The Butterfield 's have been building wagons for 150 years. My Great Great Grandfather Thomas Butterfield was a wagon builder in 1860. My Grandfather, William Butterfield was a manager of Burnetts, a railway repair works on a private siding in the 1920s. He is the tall man at the rear of this photograph with the collar and tie. My father in his early days used to work for the firm repairing the old rolling stock, machining the wheels and refurbishing the woodwork, indeed I still use the old hand augers and wood planes that used to belong to my grandfather and still bear his initials stamped over 90 years ago."
