Old Photograph Wheelwrights Brechin Scotland

Old photograph of Wheelwrights in Brechin in Angus, Scotland. These tradesmen made wheels for carts and wagons. A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of " wheel " and the archaic word " wright ", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a woodworker as in Wheelwright. This occupational name eventually became the English surname Wheelwright, akin to Arkwright and Wright, the latter pertaining to all woodworkers, or to metal workers being called Smith. These tradesmen made wheels for carts, cartwheels, wagons, wains, traps and coaches and the belt drives of steam powered machinery. First constructing the hub, called the nave, the spokes and the rime segments, pronounced fillies any wheelwright will tell you the spokes are just to keep the nave from the fillies, and assembling them all into a unit working from the center of the wheel outwards. Most wheels were made from wood, but other materials have been used, such as bone and horn, for decorative or other purposes.



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