Blacksmith’s Bellows
Brora Heritage Centre
The role of the ‘smithy’ was once indispensable, with one to be found in most villages. He would be constantly occupied in shoeing horses, making and repairing a range of tools and implements for farmers and other tradesmen, and hooping wheels for waggons and carts.
These huge bellows came from the former workshop of Brora blacksmith, WG Munro (1878- 1957). They were made in 1900. Munro would have operated them manually with either a hand-lever or foot treadle, which would lift one side of the bellows, filling the interior with air through a one-way valve. The air was pushed through the nozzle at the sharp end and directed to the fire embers to increase heat by adding oxygen.
The word bellows comes from an Old English word meaning ‘blowing bag’ or ‘blast bag’.
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Date: 1900
Materials : Leather, Wood
Size : 165cm x 79cm
