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Kirriemuir - The Blacksmith's

The Blacksmith Shop - 1930

This is the blacksmith's shop in Kirriemuir.  It is at Causewayend (Cassie End) across the road from the entry to the Lyall estate.  The blacksmith's home (two photos below) is to the left outside this picture.

Then wa'ak along the Roman Road
Sich chairms o' beauty lend
The birks an' chestnuts they abode
A' roond the Cassie End.

The Blacksmith Shop - June 1957

Among the blacksmiths who worked here were:

John McGregor
born: June 2, 1791 in Forfar
deceased: sometime prior to 1873
wife: Susan Ogilvie
children: Mary, James, John, David

John McGregor
born: June 2, 1823 in Kirriemuir
deceased: unknown
wife: Elizabeth Duke
children: Ann, Alexander, Jane, James
John McGregor was also a woodsman

James McGregor
born: October 11, 1867 in Kirriemuir, Forfar
deceased: unknown
wife: unknown
children: unknown

Faar Uncle Jeemie had his shop,
An' there he blew his bellows,
An' horseshoer Tam a sturdy man,
They shair were sturdy fellows.

The Blacksmith's House - June 1957

This is the blacksmith's house in Kirriemuir.  It is just to the left of the smithy shown above.  Caddam Wood is just behind the house to the left.

The Blacksmith - Early 1800s

The Capital Scot believes that "Uncle Jeemie" was the last McGregor blacksmith here.  The Smithy passed to another tenant named Adams.

According to lore, this blacksmith shop made the weights and pendulums for a local clockmaker, John Bower, about the turn of the 18th-19th century.  Mr. Bower manufactured (what we in America refer to as "grandfather") wall clocks, and sold them in kits to be assembled by the buyers.  Publications listing antique clocks have very little information about him other than he was known to have been in business in 1802.  In October 1997 one of Mr. Bowers' clocks was on display in the former home of Sir James M. Barrie in Kirriemuir.  The Capital Scot also has one of those clocks with a scene from the blacksmith's shop painted above the face.  The scene depicts a fellow shoeing a horse.

The Blacksmith's House - circa 1918-1922

According to a note on the (original and most faded) photo these are Uncle Jeemie, Mary and Betsy and one of the Lyall's.  Some of the girls of Kinnordy took it.  Mary was possibly Jeemie's sister, born February 9, 1925.  Betsy and the Lyall woman remain unidentified.

Uncle Jeemie and Betsy - The Blacksmith's House- circa 1918-1922

    
These are closeups of two of the people in the earlier picture - Uncle Jeemie and Betsy.

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The Blacksmith Shop - June 1977

This is the smithy's as it looked a few years later, clearly restored and no longer in use as a blacksmith's shop.

The Blacksmith's House - June 1977

This is the blacksmith's house in Kirriemuir as seen from the other side when coming from Kinnordy.

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Clock Depicting the Blacksmith's circa early 1800s

This is the face of the clock depicting a scene inside the blacksmith's at Kirriemuir.  The blackmsmith is shoeing a horse while an apprentice makes a horeseshoe.

Return to The Blacksmith - Early 1800s above.

View of Entire Clock Depicting the Blacksmith's circa early 1800s

The original weights and pendulum were likewise made in the blacksmith's.

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