[Curated by Jeff Singleton for the C&DHI ‘Legends & Folklore’ Exhibition held on 16 April at The Lodge in Blackhill & Consett Park.]
Robert Oley won a sword-making competition with a blade so fine it could coil in a hat. The hotel in Shotley Bridge, that in honour of his win became the ‘Crown and Sword’, is now called the ‘Crown & Crossed Swords’.
[The photo above shows the adjoining Commercial and Sword Hotels. Today, there is a crown and crossed swords above the entrance to the hotel, made by Consett Engineering in 1980. It replaced an earlier version when the name was changed to the ‘Crown & Crossed Swords’.]
The most commonly told fable regarding the Shotley Bridge sword-makers is that of the ‘sword in the hat’. Like most folktales, it was never written down at the start and has always been simply retold. It was only written down after the fact, by everyone from the descendants themselves to chroniclers looking to spice up the history.
It was told that, in Newcastle, Robert Oley became embroiled in a heated debate with two other sword-smiths about who made the finest sword. So a wager was made and the participants given a fortnight to make the best sword possible. They all meet at the allotted time in an inn to present their swords for inspection.
When Oley arrived at the scene his opponents had their 3ft long blades on public display and they mocked Robert for apparently forgetting his. But Robert’s nine inch blade was so flexible that he was able to coil and conceal it inside the brim of his hat. Attempts to uncoil the double edged sword resulted in lacerations, so tools are used to release it. It springs back straight and true, thus winning the bet for Oley.
In 1812 The Commercial and Sword Inns in Shotley Bridge were combined and renamed ‘The Commercial & Sword Hotel’. Both were owned by the sword maker, Christopher Oley.
In honour of Robert Oley winning the crown for the best sword in this ‘all-England’ competition, the hotel became known as the ‘Crown and Sword’. In 1851 it was listed by that name in Hagar’s Directory.
Today there is a crown and crossed swords above the entrance to the former Commercial Inn. It was made by Consett Engineering in 1980, to replace an earlier version created when the name was changed to the ‘Crown & Crossed Swords’, some time after 1922. This name first appeared in Kelly’s directory in 1938.
Shotley Bridge Swordmakers
In 1687 Adam Ohlig with 18 other sword-makers and their families came to Shotley Bridge from Solingen in Prussia [now Germany]. The Ohlig family (later Anglicised to Oley) were specialists in hollow sword making. They marked their blades with a flying fox; their answer to the running wolf used by the German sword-makers. The other leading family were the Mohlls (Anglicised to Moles) who specialised in sword grinding.
The families settled in the Wood Street area, where the nearby River Derwent powered their grinding, polishing/finishing mills, forges and workshops. The name of the enterprise was the ‘Hollow Blade Company’. In the same year, 1691, they built three storey cottages on Wood Street with inscriptions in German above the doors.
The swordmakers’ arrival coincided with the Jacobite rebellion, with the Scots and the English at one another’s throats. This was good for the sword industry, which supplied both sides. However, demand for swords reflected wars in Europe and in 1711 the fortunes of the swordmakers took a downturn. Herman Mohll died in 1716 and left his mill to his son William who subsequently sold the mill to Robert Ohlig (son of Adam) in 1724.
Following the Battle of Culloden in 1745 more lean times were experienced. However, the Shotley Bridge sword-makers’ reputation for making the finest swords in the country enabled them to survive. With the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1785 the production of swords once again took an upturn and the mills were busy. By 1787 this upturn enabled William and Ann Oley (Ohlig) to build a new Cutlers hall, which still stands today up the hill on Cutlers Hall Road. The upturn only lasted until 1815 and the final sword mill closed in 1840.
The sword-makers houses were demolished in the 1960s, [part of a wider slum clearance order] and the last sword-maker Joseph Oley, who died in 1896, was buried in Ebchester churchyard.
[Joseph Oley, above, was the very last sword maker to operate in Shotley Bridge. In 1840 he became an auctioneer (and grew vegetables). The picture below is of Nicholas Oley, his grandson, who died in 1964 (in Shotley Bridge) holding the last ever blade made by his grandfather.]
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