Obituary for Chris Topp; master wrought iron worker and lifelong friend.

Ever since Chris’ wake, which was wonderful, warm and a wee bit wild (a bit like Chris himself), so many words have been swirling around my head. Craftsmanship, the innocence of childhood, kindness, the fiery forge at their large rambling home. Most enjoyably to remember, a great many silly, eccentric escapades and boating adventures.

Humour is another word. Chris Topp had a seriously great humour. His smile was genuine, warm and interested in those around him. Chris was there for my family through thick and thin. He took the art of friendship seriously.

It is only now that he is gone, that I see vividly just what an awesome bloke I had the privilege of knowing - and learning from during my 44 years so far.

Quite apart from Chris' skill as a wrought iron worker, which was immense and speaks for itself, he was a people person. Not an ‘in your face’ or arrogant type at all, but interesting and interested, you could talk to Chris about everything under the sun.

Chris Topp was the devoted husband and soulmate of Bethan Griffiths-Topp, a wrought iron worker in her own right, a lifelong friend of Teddy McAvoy's and my own father Anthony Dew and a loving father to five equally wonderful & beautiful Topp tributes, Emily, Iona, Lewis, Isobel & Beatrix (above, with their father).

Having fathered five children over a period of 34 years Chris was a great storyteller, and when he read to the little ones, he’d do all the voices. They gave him joy and strength, he said, particularly as his own health began to fail.

Chris’ slow gravelly voice was rich with deep Yorkshire tones and soulful ponderings. There is exquisite richness for those of us left behind to treasure.

Chris was born in 1949 in Bolton, England. With no interest in becoming a policeman like his father, Chris was fascinated by what would become his life’s work and passion; historical industrial machines and ironworks. 

 

Chris put tremendous care, curiosity, and energy into everything he undertook. He was a lover of old metal, an aficionado of barges, and a peerless advocate of real blacksmithing.

His interest in Wrought Iron began at age 18 working a stone’s throw from Thomas Walmsley’s Atlas Forge, the last in the world to produce puddled wrought iron. Given the freedom to roam the works, he found them "full of drama" & high-pressure steam engines. This was Chris’s first exposure to the lure and fascination of hot metal, but especially Wrought Iron…

After graduating in Civil Engineering from Newcastle University, Chris worked for British Waterways, which bored him. So, together with school friends Dave Hodgson, Roger Lees and Teddy McAvoy, he set out to become a restoration engineering firm and lo ‘Dorothea Restorations’ was born.

This schoolboy desire to preserve old machinery coincided fortuitously with the establishment of several 'open-air museums' which were popping up around the UK at the time, such as Beamish Industrial Museum, Ironbridge and the Black Country Museum, who all gave Dorothea Restorations juicy work projects.

In 1976 they took over Westons Forge in Buxton and Chris became a full-time blacksmith. In 1982, Chris moved to Carlton Husthwaite, buying a house with an old bus garage at the bottom of the garden which he converted into a forge. Chris Topp & Co was founded their first big break was for gates for Middlethorpe Hall, in York, which attracted attention from the heritage world. This is where Chris was to find his niche.

They went where the work was and led an itinerant life, often living on board an old wooden coal barge Chris had bought, aptly named Frugality. 'Frugality' is part of my family story too as my own parents later bought and lived on her in the early days of their marriage.

Through his restoration work Chris found himself working with Wrought Iron, and grew curiouser and curiouser.

Unlike steel, wrought iron has a grain, like wood. Chris understood this in an era when everyone else had swapped to steel, and specifically the importance of wrought iron as a material within heritage restoration projects. So, determined to follow the conservation principle of like-for-like materials he set out to reinstate the supply of wrought iron by setting up the Real Wrought Iron company which sold re-rolled material.  As such, he became the last world-wide supplier of Wrought Iron.

Over the years Topp & Co became one of the most respected blacksmiths in the country. Chris Topp worked at Buckingham Palace, Durham Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral, Windsor Castle…the list goes on and on and on. One was guaranteed a fantastic backdrop when working for Chris, as his team powered through some of the most prestigious and historic ironwork the length and breadth of the British Isles. Chris also built an accurate replica Tudor cannon from Henry VIII’s ship the Mary Rose and tested it in the wilds of Northumberland.

As Chris said himself, this was pretty much “the most fun you could have in a job”.

In 2019 Chris Topp received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Heritage Ironwork Preservation. 

Chris’s principal legacy, however, is his sheer unstinting commitment to craftsmanship, to beautiful, useful things, well made. 

 

A principal of life I feel utterly in step with. 

For one reason & another,  writing this article has been the toughest and most emotional of my career so far. A great honour and also a terrific burden to 'get it right' for everyone involved.

I must thank my father, Tony Dew the rocking horse maker, for the structure of this piece. Dad conducted Chris' funeral service held in Yorkshire and his meticulous wording, gravitas and support gave me a basis to start from and work within.

A euphemism for my life really ;-)
 

Today, I am based in rural North Pembrokeshire, Wales, from where I run the CraftCourses.com website. And I happen to live a few miles from the Welsh family of Chris’ wife Bethan Griffiths-Topp, which has been convenient for meet ups on their many road-trip style trips around the UK. Coincidentally, I also live just a 10-minute drive from Chris' eldest child, my childhood playmate Emily and her two Topp children. However, our families collide most regularly in Yorkshire.

As Iona Topp, ceramicist and Chris' second daughter, reminded us at the service last week, her Dad advised her “to never do anything just for the money, but for the bloody love of doing it…”

 

Chris Topp was a pioneer in ironwork conservation whose work lives on in the hundreds of pieces of exquisite ironwork he was involved with all over the United Kingdom. And he will, of course, live on forever in the minds and memories of all who knew and loved him.

To learn more about Chris' life, work & times,  his wife Bethan will be speaking on Radio 4's "Last Words" today (29th of November 2024).

If you feel inspired to try out blacksmithing too, this is a link to hundreds of UK based blacksmithing courses  workshops & experience days , delivered by our army of blacksmiths-who-teach. They are primarily one man / one woman bands. Having worked in craft courses for 14 years now, I can tell you that they are a very solid & 'sound' bunch of people. I have yet to meet a rogue blacksmith.

Glass artists on the other hand.... sheesh.

Disclaimer. Not all of them.