Criccieth – The Smithy

In the early censuses of the 19th century there is a cottage called “Yr Hen Efail” (Old Smithy) at the foot of the castle behind Castle Square. As this area was the centre of the town in medieval times it makes sense that there would have been one here. After the Main Road was built there appears to have been one somewhere near the George Hotel. Around 1855 the blacksmith, Evan Ellis, moved to “ Y Cwrt” and built his smithy next to it, where it still stands today. At least four generations of this family were smiths. The last “Ellis Gof” (Ellis the Smith”) died in 1948. Captain W.E.Williams “Wasi” wrote about his childhoon before WW1. “ Across the bridge, over the stream was the smithy run by “ Robin Gof” (Robert the Smith) and his workmate Sam. Outside the smithy were ploughs waiting to be repaired and an occasional iron gate. In those days welding had not reached the countryside. Inside was the drilling machine turned by a big wheel and in the far corner was where the horses were shod. When it was the time of the year

to play with hoops we used to pester the blacksmith to make us hoops and handles to run them”.