A smithy is a workshop where a blacksmith works with metal, especially iron and steel. The smithy contains a forge (a special furnace that gets extremely hot), an anvil (a heavy iron block for hammering metal), and various hammers and tongs. When you walk past a smithy, you might hear the distinctive clang of a hammer striking metal and feel waves of heat from the forge.

For thousands of years, the village smithy was one of the most important places in any community. Blacksmiths made horseshoes, nails, tools, weapons, and countless other metal items that people needed for daily life. Before factories, almost every metal object you used passed through a smithy at some point.

Today, smithies are less common since most metal goods come from factories, but some blacksmiths still practice their craft, creating decorative ironwork, custom tools, or historical reproductions. The rhythmic hammering and shower of sparks flying from hot metal make a working smithy an impressive sight.