The smithy or forge was the workplace of a blacksmith or ironsmith, where iron was worked into useful objects such as weapons, armour in the Middle Ages and locks, hinges, spades and tools, iron horseshoes (machine-made horseshoes were introduced from USA in 1870s), grilles, gates, railings, metal parts for locomotives, coaches, waggons and carts. The blacksmith's raw material was wrought iron in bar form. The smithy comprised a hearth, bellows, anvil and bosh (quenching trough). A small forge had hand-operated bellows, a large industrial forge water-powered bellows, power hammer and shears (William Jones, 1996, Dictionary of Industrial Archaeology).

Copperas is iron sulphate, resulting from atmospheric oxidation and decomposition of iron pyrites found in coal measures. When heated, oil of vitriol (concentrated sulphuric acid) is produced, which was used as a mordant in the dyeing industry in the eighteenth century and for making ink. Copperas was used from the mid C18 to late C19 in the Leblanc process for making soda. Its use declined when better ways of making sulphuric acid were discovered, when synthetic dyes were introduced and when the Solvay Process superseded the Leblanc (William Jones, 1996, Dictionary of Industrial Archaeology).