NAIL-MAKERS
Nails are an essential technology, whose production dates back millennia. Any village blacksmith would have been able to make nails, for horseshoes for example.
In medieval times, as demand grew and applications diversified, specialist centres of production emerged. In England, two areas in particular became associated with the nail-making trade: Belper in Derbyshire and communities in the Black Country, to the south and west of Birmingham. In Bromsgrove, north Worcestershire, nail-making dominated the economy to such an extent that it was known locally as ‘Nail Town’. Clusters were also found around Cramond and Kirkcaldy on Scotland’s east coast. Each of these areas exhibited similar characteristics:
