Crafts and Skills

Agriculture is represented at the Fair by a vintage equipment: a plough and tractors. The plough is of a single furrow horse type made by Davis and Bailey of Hemel Hempstead. It is the centre of attention at the annual ‘Blessing of the Plough’ service in St Leonard‘s every January.

Bell Ringing

Bell ringing has been part of church tradition since mediaeval times. Full circle bells were introduced in the 17th century. Five of St Leonard’s six were cast in 1664..

The Mobile Belfries Trust

The trust will be bringing their new Touring Tower.

It has been designed to demonstrate bellringing in the English style to new audiences, to enable visitors to have a go, and hence to promote recruitment of new ringers. There are six mini-ring bells, made by Taylor’s Bell Foundry, Loughborough.

Birds of Prey (hawking)

Hawking goes back to mediaeval times, when the birds were a status symbol and often brought into church. One of the wall paintings in St Leonard’s, the Three Living and Three Dead, features a hawk belonging to a nobleman, one of the three living.

Imperial Birds of Prey Academy

There will be a static display of four different birds of prey, where you can see the birds close-up, two flying displays of about 30 minutes each where you can watch three birds soar above the churchyard, and educational materials so you can find out more about them.

Petefire Artist Blacksmiths

Peter Williamson will be demonstrating the art of the blacksmith on his portable forge. he will explain the different aspects of blacksmithing and metalworking.

Brick & Flint

Flint is used extensively in local church and vernacular building, as it is widely available and there is little else. Brick was used in Roman times and then again since the 15th century.

Mathias Restoration

Mathias Brick and Flint is a well established family business, specialising in the conservation of historic buildings.

They will be demonstrating gauged brickwork which is the art of cutting and shaping bricks for decorative details, embellishment and arches.  This type of brickwork reached its peak in the Georgian period.  Lynn Mathias will be using soft red rubbing bricks to demonstrate what is possible using traditional techniques.

Flint and stonework

Stone, in particular Totternhoe Clunch, has been used to build and repair St Leonard’s, since the early 13th century. Flint and more recently brick have also been used, but stone is required for most decorative work and to strengthen the structure.

Joe Orsi, Historic Buildings Consultant

There will be a mix of demonstrations and hands-on to explain the crafts involved in flint-work and stone masonry.

Joe Orsi is a time served craftsman who can provide the basics of many traditional crafts. He specialises in rubble stone and flint work. He is also a blacksmith and farrier who contributes to the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) whose mission it is to educate and assist homeowners and craftspeople to conserve historic building fabric.

Hedge-laying & Tree Identification

Hedge-laying is a traditional country craft and part of our natural heritage. Trees are or course also part of our natural heritage. Yews in particular have long been associated with churchyards. Identification of the different types of tree helps with our appreciation of them.

Donato Cinicolo

Donato will conduct a series of 30 minute walks around the churchyard showing how to identify about a dozen different trees and giving a brief talk about each. See the event programme for the times. He will also make a model hedge to explain the principles of hedge-laying.

Donato Cinicolo trained as a mechanical engineer upon leaving school, but then decided on a complete change and ended up attending two art schools followed by a career in photography. Over 30 years ago he learnt the craft of hedge-laying and has since taught over 100 students and has been County champion about a dozen times. Donato spends his time giving talks about the countryside and taking groups around woodlands looking at trees.  Some of his other interests include archery, film-making, exploring ancient structures and building sheds.

Pottery

Pottery has been a traditional craft for thousands of years, locally and throughout the world

Emily Good Pottery

Emily is a local potter who predominantly makes functional ware from earthenware clay, decorated with coloured slips. This is partly in homage to the slipware techniques of the traditional English potters of the 17th century; local folk who would use locally dug clay to make rustic items needed by the community, before the industrial revolution and the emergence of the potteries in Staffordshire. It is also for environmental reasons as earthenware clay fires to lower temperatures and potters nowadays all have a duty to be evermore aware of their carbon emissions.

As a way of celebrating Flamstead’s cultural heritage, Emily will guide visitors by using the incredible graffiti and paintings in St Leonard’s Church as inspiration to decorate their own earthenware tiles, using various techniques and tools. There will also be an opportunity to have a go at modelling and handbuilding basic forms.

Straw Plaiting and Hat Making

Straw cultivation, plaiting and hat making were major occupations in Flamstead and surrounding villages, supplying the Luton hat trade. In 1851, 498 people in Flamstead were engaged in the industry, over a quarter of the whole population.

Sophie Lambe, Reel Millinery, Hats for the Stage and Screen

Sophie will show how hats are made by machine and, at specific times, by hand. See the event programme for the times. She will also explain and demonstrate the basics of straw plaiting and how to block a strip straw hat. She will be available to answer questions about hat making and how she works with costume designers to produce hats for period dramas, set from the middle ages to the present day. 

Timber Framing

Many of our local older houses, barns and roofs are timber-framed, although sometimes behind a more ‘modern’ facade. This construction method persisted from the 12th to 19th century, and so these buildings form an important part of our local vernacular architecture. The nave roof at St Leonard’s also relies on a timber structure, with the recent restoration requiring extensive work by many skilled carpenters.

Louis Curtis, Breakspear Conservation,Timber-framing and conservation

Louis will erect a small-scale timber-frame building, which he will use to illustrate the principles of this traditional construction technique. He will demonstrate peg making and talk informally about all things relating to timber, conservation, and the tools that are used.

Woodcarving

Woodcarving has been used in decorative work in St Leonard’s, in particular for the 15th century rood screen. The chainsaw sculptures Flamstead Heritage have now commissioned for St Leonard’s churchyard are a modern adaptation of that tradition.

Luke Chapman, woodcarver, wood-sculptor, designer

Luke will be demonstrating woodcarving using both traditional hand carving with chisels and a modern technique using battery electric chainsaws. He will relate the demonstration to the work he has been commissioned to provide for St Leonard’s churchyard.

He will also have some existing sculptures to show, which will illustrate the skills of the woodcarver’s art.

Local History – Redbourn Village Museum

Redbourn Village Museum opened in May 2000. Its collection features local heritage, with the Occupations Gallery highlighting many of the village trades. In the 1800s, many of the villagers plaited locally grown straw, some of which was used in Redbourn’s hat factory, now the Village Hall, and other plait was sent to the markets in Luton and Dunstable. At Flamstead, the museum will be showing some of the items from the collection.

The museum is located in the house built for the Manager of Woollam’s Silk Mill which operated from 1857 to 1936. After the mill closed, the site was developed into a large Brooke Bond tea factory, which closed in 1994.