Angaston Blacksmith Shop & Museum
The A&H Doddridge blacksmith shop of 1873, worked by three generations of one family for 130 years and saved as a living museum by the community.
The A&H Doddridge Blacksmith Shop on Angaston's main street is that rarest of heritage places: one that never really stopped. Established by John Doddridge in 1873, it was worked by three generations of the same family across 130 years, surviving two world wars, the Depression and the slow death of the blacksmith's trade - its forge, tools and clutter accumulating in place the whole time.
When the shop finally came up for sale, the Angaston & Penrice Historical Society raised more than $100,000 in six weeks to save it for the town, settling in December 2016 and building a museum behind the original smithy. Today volunteers run guided tours through three rooms of equipment dating back to the 1870s, with the forge fired up for demonstrations on open days - one of only a handful of intact blacksmith shops left in South Australia.
It anchors the heritage end of a stroll along Angaston's main street, and Saturday visitors can start the morning at the Barossa Farmers Market just out of town before the tour.
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Image credits
- A&H Doddridge blacksmith inside, Angaston.jpg by South Australian History Network , CC0 via Wikimedia Commons