The Dromore ploughman

Image: © Kenneth Allen Taken: 20 Feb 2007

DROMORE 2000, the local regeneration group for the West Tyrone village, has recently installed an impressive art piece on a plot of surplus land beside the Irvinestown Road. The welded steel sculpture is the work of Harriet Mead, a well-known Norfolk artist, and it portrays a farm horse being led by a countryman. This fine piece of metalwork will be interpreted by the eye of the beholder, as is the case with any artistic production - the intention of the sponsoring group was to reflect the nature of the rural economy which sustained Dromore and its hinterland for so many years. A vital part of that rural economy was the forge and the statue stands close to the premises occupied by Dromore's last working blacksmith, the late Joe Crozier. Nothing now remains of the busy workshop where Joe shod horses and mended machinery for his farmer customers. He was the classic village blacksmith - strong, skilful, gentle and immensely popular with all age groups. Centuries of metalworking skill died when Joe bolted the wide forge doors for the last time.

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