Then & Now 1890's-2023. Daresbury Smithy, Chester Road. Built in 1830 on land owned by Samuel Beckett Chadwick of the adjacent Daresbury Hall who owned much of the land in this part of Runcorn rural district at the time, and married Elizabeth Whiteley of Runcorn in 1843. Not only would the blacksmith have shoed horses, but he would also have made and repaired tools and farm implements. It was designated as the village fire station during WWII, with hoses, nozzles and fittings kept in a purpose made cupboard on the outside east end wall of the smithy. In 1911 a Mr F.C.Dutton who owned an agricultural repair business 'Dutton & Co' in Warrington purchased the building as an outstation, employing a John Acton to run it for him, who eventually bought the house from Mr Dutton. John lived in the smithy house with his wife, two children and an apprentice, all from Runcorn. For a time it then became known as 'Acton Smithy'.

It continued its business until the last blacksmith, Colin Dale, died in 1969. Today it is again used by Duttons, the same garden machinery specialist who moved their main premises from Buttermarket Street in Warrington after buying it back in 1969, shortly after the smithy ceased trading and the acquisition of a rival company by the name of 'Mowerworld', hence the current trading name of Dutton's Mowerworld. It is one of the oldest agricultural businesses in Cheshire, and the only business left in the village beside the Ring o' Bells pub. Sadly it reportedly will soon be shutting up shop itself, ending a long line of legacy in the process. The smithy cottage was lived in by the tenants of the smithy throughout its years of trading, and remains in residential use having spent a short spell of time in the last decade as an Alice in Wonderland themed tearoom before returning to use as a dwelling.