| The Wheelwright's Shop at Cressing Temple |
The Wheelwright was a central figure in the farming community. Out of his shop came the wheeled transport that allowed the farmers to ship their produce to store and then to market. Wheelwrighting was a skilled craft employing early machine and specialised handtools.
The equipment and materials in this shop came from Dane End Common, Kedington where the Deeks family were wheelwright's for over a hundred years. The shop itself was an unusual two-storey building with the paint shop on the upper floor. The cart bodies were lifted into the roof using the winch (in the forge next door) and painted using hand-ground pigments mixed in oil and then lowered back to the ground.
The wheelwright not only made and repaired carts but was also a master of other trades including blacksmithing and timber sawing. He repaired agricultural machinery and hand tools like spades, hoes and scythes. Signwriting was another skill and we have one of the test pieces here in the shop.
Wheelwrighting died out as a skill in the 1920's and 30's when the motorcar took over as the main form of transport. Many wheelwrights and blacksmiths became general engineers and motor mechanics but in 1929 William Deeks retired and closed the business.
The shop in Kedington remained untouched for over sixty years when the contents were offered to Cressing Temple for preservation and although the forge, tyring platform and the sawpit are gone the original building is still looked after.
The huge lathe was central to the production of wheels and it was on this
that the hubs were turned. Before this they were fashioned with an axe. The
great wheel was turned by two men while the master craftsman crafted the hub
using hand chisels and templates.
