The old forge, Little Shelford

Edward Elbourne and his two sons, Charlie and Malcolm can be seen lowering the iron tyre onto the wooden part of the cartwheel. The iron tyre , which had already been made to the correct size, was heated until red hot over an open fire, which can be seen in the background. It takes three men to lift the tyre from the fire onto the wheel. Then water had to be poured on the rim to prevent the woodwork from catching fire and to cause the iron tyre to cool and shrink more quickly (note the cans of water standing ready). A cartwheel could be re- tyred several times during its lifetime.