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Walsall Corporation
raised this mound of old anvil stones as a monument to the ‘bitties and
tackies’ of Bloxwich in Short Heath Park. This picture was taken in about
1915. Light metal trades have been an important industry in Bloxwich since the
middle ages. At first the metalwork was second in importance to agriculture,
but by the early 19th century jobs such as bitmaking were becoming
far more important than farming.
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Bloxwich has been an
important place for making harnesses for horses for along time, but since the
motor car most of the industry has gone.
Bitties and tackies made different parts for the horse. Bitmakers made the metal bits for the
horses mouth, and tackies made things like shoe tacks. Eventually the
monument collapsed, but it was rebuilt in the 1990s. I took the the
photograph on the right in 2000.
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