Forging Rings on the Edge of the Forest
My workshop sits at the very edge of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire England, a landscape shaped by woodland, ironworking, and layers of history stretching back centuries.
A short walk from my house runs an old Roman road. Locally it is sometimes called the “Old Road,” cutting straight through the forest as Roman roads often do. The kerb-stones emerge then disappear again back into the tide of leaf mould and the passing millennia. There is something about those long, ancient routes disappearing into trees that naturally sparks the imagination.
Not far from here lies Lydney Park, where J.R.R. Tolkien worked with archaeologists in the 1920s while studying inscriptions and early languages. Tolkien’s deep knowledge of Old English, Norse mythology, and early runic writing would later shape the languages and legends of Middle-earth.
Living and working here, surrounded by that same layered landscape of woodland and history, it is easy to feel the continuity of older traditions.
In my work as a rune engraver and ring maker, I draw from the same northern runic traditions and early languages that fascinated Tolkien. The symbols may be ancient, but the craft remains very much alive.
Each ring carries a small part of that long conversation between history, language, and the people who keep them alive.
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