The Blacksmith

The gates of St Paul's Cathedral, London are amongst projects entrusted to a master Norfolk blacksmith.

School children visit a forge at Wroxham in Norfolk where master blacksmith Eric Stevenson answers their questions about his work. This classroom film shows spectacular examples of the smith's decorative modern metalwork. The great gates of St Paul's Cathedral await skilled repair. More traditional work is demonstrated by a farrier with a mobile forge shoeing horses at Overstrand stables. Filmed by Peter Hollingham for Norfolk County Council Education Department.

In July 1970 Eric Stevenson, for 40 years a blacksmith, was awarded the Gold Medal and the Freedom and Livery of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths for the superlative craftsmanship of his work on the screen at St Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth. For the first time in 600 years, cameras were admitted to the ceremony honouring his work, and the programme 'Look Stranger: By Hammer and Hand' was subsequently transmitted on BBC 2 in February 1971. Restoring the gates of St. Paul's was one of Mr Stevenson's last projects before he retired in 1977.