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When a young enthusiastic and ambitious Chris Topp started up his own blacksmith business in rural North Yorkshire, he could not have dreamt that 30 years later he could boast amongst his clients Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Hampton Court and a long list of stately homes, cathedrals and major historic public and commercial buildings.

This year, 2012, is the 30th anniversary Chris Topp Ltd. The company is now regarded as the market leader in Britain in the restoration of heritage ironwork, particularly in their speciality of genuine wrought iron.   They believe they are the only company in the world still producing wrought iron!

They also have an excellent reputation in the design and production of new high quality ironwork, working not only in wrought iron, but with a variety of metals – cast iron, mild and stainless steel, bronze, brass and copper included.  

And while Chris Topp appreciates the prestige and image boost that results from working on large national heritage sites, he and his team are equally at home creating small objects making repairs to churches ‘ ironwork and commissions for private houses.

The company also administer within their two rural workshops north of York, the Real Wrought Iron Company which produces charcoal and puddled wrought iron which is both used in their own work and supplied to other blacksmiths. Genuine wrought iron -resistant to corrosion- can last centuries and was produced many centuries before the industrial revolution eventually lead to the introduction of mass-produced mild steel.

Today the company has 15 employees including a number of highly skilled smiths with various specialist forging experience – a far cry from Chris and one young apprentice back in 1982. He recalls his proud first commission of making the historic ironwork at Middleton Hall near York when it became a luxury hotel. It earned him £9,000, a huge sum in those days.

Over the years there has been steady growth in the company which is now fortunate to regularly handle contracts worth hundreds of thousands of pounds from well-known commercial and government bodies.

Chris has a real passion particularly in the field of restoration of ancient ironwork, and new ironwork for ancient buildings. A good example was made last year (2011) when the company created a new altar screen for Ely Cathedral using ancient materials and techniques but to a modern design. Says Chris Topp: “it gives my team and I quite a thrill when we realise that this item is likely to remain in this location, untouched for centuries”. The screen and accompanying items were made in genuine wrought iron and re-rolled from anchor chains acquired from the former Gibraltar naval yard.

There is a huge public misconception on what is genuine wrought iron however Chris Topp & Co are experts in the field. Often any form of intricate iron work in gardens or on gates and railings is incorrectly referred to as being ‘wrought iron’ while in fact being made in cast iron or mild steel.   You are certainly not likely to find any product in your local DIY store made of genuine wrought iron and the difference in value between the ‘real thing’ and imitations is enormous as is the life expectancy of the two products.

It is of no surprise therefore that the company is often called in by Trading Standards officers and other bodies to advise as to the authenticity of an alleged item of ‘wrought iron’. ‘Important’ says Chris, ‘because of the need to increase the understanding of the production of traditional iron materials’.

To Chris too many priceless pieces of historic wrought iron are being ruined forever by the repair or restoration with iron and steel materials and not real wrought iron.   He works tirelessly in the field of metallurgy and archaeology in raising the standard of restoration work by blacksmiths and bodies working in the field of historic buildings. He is frequently consulted on archaeology by bodies such as the BBC ‘Time Team’ film makers.

As Chris Topp looks to the future he has increasing worries about the training of new entrants to heritage ironwork. He was a leading light in the formation in 2009 of the National Heritage Ironwork Group (NHIG).

NHIG aims to preserve the skills of ancient ironwork smiths and thanks to help from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded under its ‘Skills for the Future’ programme has set up a training bursary. There is little formal training for heritage blacksmiths in the Europe and Chris Topp and Co frequently employ other nationalities keen to gain experience in ornamental design and restoration work.

Chris would also like to see the profile of blacksmiths raised and their artistic work recognised as an art form. Although there are thousands of great ornamental ironwork items in this country blacksmiths are seldom represented as artists.

Chris would like to encourage the incorporation of high quality ornamental metalwork into the design of prestigious new buildings. The provision of gates and railings is often left to last when they are the first thing visitors see and the opportunity is lost to give that all important first good impression?