Much of the existing ironwork idates back well over 150 years and in some places is damaged or missing, with the old harbour being no exception. The handrails, mooring rings and ladders were all made from wrought iron which meant the restoration work has had to be as faithfull as possible, where feasible, to the originals. Today, there is just one foundry in the UK that produces wrought iron – re-working salvaged iron from a scrapped Victorian bridge in the north east! They were able to supply the bar used to repair the damaged handrails.
These pictures show the extent of the damage and general wear that some of the existing ironwork was suffering.
Pencarn Forge in Canonstown have been supplying blacksmith services for over 200 years. In this video you can see master blacksmith Sanni use the split weld method to add a new lenght of wrought iron to an existing handrailpost that had corroded. Once the end has been split and shaped, the flattened is then inserted when both pieces are at the right temperature, judged by the colour of the iron in the fire, the two ends are beaten together -.
