The Nailmakers of Halesowen

02 Jul, 2026

The Nailmakers of Halesowen

Yo' gets a piece of wire,
Yo' puts in in the fire,
Yo' teks it out,
Yo' giz it a clout,
Yo' yods it,
Yo' got a nayul.

I've mentioned in earlier blogs that whilst I now live in and write about Worcestershire, I grew up over the border in the West Midlands in an area known as the Black Country¹ specifically the town of Halesowen. The town itself was once upon-a-time part of the historic county of Worcestershire, but become part of the West Midlands county designation in 1974 (before my time). Halesowen naturally is where I started getting interested in local history a bit, then I buggered off to live a life in London before returning as a much older adult and again starting to research history of the surrounds where I lived at the time and now Worcestershire.

Halesowen was historically a nail making town and as the above poem written in the Black country accent suggests, isn’t a particularly difficult industry in terms of its method. You start with iron rods that are heated, shaped and sharpened until you have a nail. That said, it was for a multitude of reasons a hard life for those involved. Earnings would be low and often the work was carried out by men, women and even children who had other jobs in agriculture. This was a cottage industry largely with small forges attached to houses and nails being made when no other work presented itself.

'Ommer, 'ommer, 'ommer, clink, clink, clink,
Work all day without any drink,
Pudding on a Friday without any fat:
Poor ol' nailers can't buy (even) that.

The middlemen or 'foggers' would prey on the poverty of the nail makers by supplying them with the iron rods they needed, often on credit, then pay for the finished nails usually at below cost. To further add to the misery, payment was often in 'truck' in the form of credit to be spent at the foggers premises or just in goods supplied from the same source. Its also said the foggers had 3 sets of scales, one to under-weigh, one to over weigh and one that was accurate should any gentlemen from weights and measures come calling!

By 1830 the increasing industrialisation was making life harder for the nailers and certainly into the 1840s strikes had become common. Whilst obviously in the tales of the working people of this era, not a lot of difference was made, the nailers did cause some problems with the invention of the 'tiswas', 3 nails welded together so a point was always upright when thrown under the hooves of the cavalry sent to break strikes. English people of a certain age will also know this is the name of a children’s TV series!

In 1852 a number of strikes were organised by one Sam Salt in which strikers marched from Halesowen to Bromsgrove pulling a ton of coal. The coal had been provided (along one assumes with some support) by Thomas Attwood a reformist Member of Parliament and first Member of Parliament for Birmingham. The march is immortalised with the below poem;

Oh, you nailmakers all that day remember well,
The last strike of which this tale I tell,
How cold and hungry we that heavy day,
To Bromsgrove Town did take our toilsome way,
And these nail forgers, miserable souls,
Will not forget the givers of the cause,
Nailmasters are hard-hearted viles,
And the way we took was 13 miles.

Oh, the slaves abroad in the sugar cane,
Find plenty to help and pity their pain,
But the slaves at home in the mine or fire,
Have plenty to pity but none to admire,
Now, I wish I could see all nail dealers,
Draw such a load as did we poor nailers,
And see such punishment and such smarts,
That it might soften their hard stoney hearts.

Oh, you nailmakers all that day remember well,
The last strike of which this tale I tell,
How cold and hungry we that heavy day,
To Bromsgrove Town did take our toilsome way,

The miserable trade continued well into the 20th century. The writer and journalist Robert Sherard who in 1896 when writing a series of articles about industrial poverty called 'The White Slaves of England', visited Bromsgrove and described the trade as 'one of cruellest industrial tragedies in England'. In defence of the town he also commended its fine church and 'some of the prettiest country in the Midlands'.

By 1911 there were still some 3000 nailmakers, but the handmade trade was coming to its end and really had been from the 1870s when industrialisation in the North of England and the decline of Black Country coal and iron really impacted the small local producers.

Today, as with so much local history, there is little apparent sign left. There are a few cottages still standing in Halesowen that would have had a forge, but the development of the area, increased urbanisation and the combination into the greater Birmingham conurbation means very very little still remains. You can however still see an example of a nailmakers forge at the nearby Black Country museum and the entire museum is well worth a visit.