Old Horns Smithy

The Old Horns Smithy at the Village of Queeslet (Queslett - Queese being a collective name for Wood Pigeons, and (“Let" meaning valley), had been run until his death in 1825 by William Parkes, passed onto his son Thomas, who carried on the business until his death around May 1867. Thomas who had been baptised in Aldridge on 15th April 1795, married Mary Skinner around 1829, by whom he had eight known children. The Old Horns Pub next door to the Smithy was run for a while by Thomas (certainly in 1834 Thomas was listed as a beer retailer). Thomas from the Parish records 1828 until at least the 1861 census, Thomas is always recorded as a Blacksmith, and he died in 1867, being buried on 14th may 1867 at St Margarets, Chapel Lane, Great Barr following a service by Rev A.J. Clarke.