Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Master arrowsmith Hector Cole MBE demonstrated his craft in the courtyard of The Museum in the Park in Stroud on Thursday.
Mr Cole, who began making longbows from yew, has spent his life researching and recreating arrows used throughout history and is recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities on medieval bladesmithing and arrowsmithing. Using his recreation of a mobile medieval forge, he heated metal in charcoal until it glowed red hot and then fashioned it into shape on an anvil.
“I brought this medieval field armourer’s forge set-up to demonstrate how they would have forged arrowheads in the medieval period.
“In the Middle Ages, making arrowheads for war was a major industry. They were making thousands of them, and it was a full-time job for a team of arrowsmiths, just forging the heads.
“What I’m demonstrating today is the basic principle of making a warhead.”
The forge is made from elm: “It had to be elm – elm doesn’t burn, it smolders,” explained Mr Cole. It can be dismantled and packed into his car. Air stokes the fire from hand-pumped bellows.
Mr Cole has appeared in television shows including Time Team, and Digging for Britain, featuring Professor Alice Roberts.
The demonstration was part of a wider series of events linked to the exhibition of the work of blacksmith Alan Evans at the museum, Earth Fire Iron: Alan Evans and the New Iron Age, 1980-2025 which runs until November 2nd.
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For the latest from Stroud Times visit: stroudtimes.com
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Stroud Times - the independent community-based news website.
Encompassing the Stroud locality the team aim to provide engaging human interest stories, comprehensive sports coverage, and championing local businesses' success.
Living in the community they serve, editor Ash Loveridge, journalist Matt Bigwood, and photographer Carl Hewlett have joined forces to provide free-to-view local content devoid of a clickbait agenda and pop-up adverts.
Master arrowsmith Hector Cole MBE demonstrated his craft in the courtyard of The Museum in the Park in Stroud on Thursday.
Mr Cole, who began making longbows from yew, has spent his life researching and recreating arrows used throughout history and is recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities on medieval bladesmithing and arrowsmithing. Using his recreation of a mobile medieval forge, he heated metal in charcoal until it glowed red hot and then fashioned it into shape on an anvil.
“I brought this medieval field armourer’s forge set-up to demonstrate how they would have forged arrowheads in the medieval period.
“In the Middle Ages, making arrowheads for war was a major industry. They were making thousands of them, and it was a full-time job for a team of arrowsmiths, just forging the heads.
“What I’m demonstrating today is the basic principle of making a warhead.”
The forge is made from elm: “It had to be elm – elm doesn’t burn, it smolders,” explained Mr Cole. It can be dismantled and packed into his car. Air stokes the fire from hand-pumped bellows.
Mr Cole has appeared in television shows including Time Team, and Digging for Britain, featuring Professor Alice Roberts.
The demonstration was part of a wider series of events linked to the exhibition of the work of blacksmith Alan Evans at the museum, Earth Fire Iron: Alan Evans and the New Iron Age, 1980-2025 which runs until November 2nd.
******************
For the latest from Stroud Times visit: stroudtimes.com
******************
Stroud Times - the independent community-based news website.
Encompassing the Stroud locality the team aim to provide engaging human interest stories, comprehensive sports coverage, and championing local businesses' success.
Living in the community they serve, editor Ash Loveridge, journalist Matt Bigwood, and photographer Carl Hewlett have joined forces to provide free-to-view local content devoid of a clickbait agenda and pop-up adverts.
