Journey Persons

A journeyman is a tradesman or craftsman who has completed an apprenticeship but is not yet able to set up his or her own workshop as a master.  In parts of Europe, as in later medieval Germany, spending time as a journeyman (Geselle), moving from one town to another to gain experience of different workshops, was an important part of the training of an aspirant master.  In later medieval England, however, most journeymen remained as employees throughout their careers, lacking the financial resources to set up their own workshops.

Today ‘Journey Men’ come to us from all over the world, they are usually following their dreams and ambitions to work with as many different types of materials, to learn from experienced craftsmen, enjoying blacksmithing festivals, making life time friends and to see many parts of the world.  Most of our journeymen have between 6 and 10 placements lasting from a couple weeks to several months on a trip that takes them away from home for between one and two years.

We have had Journeymen from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, Estonia, Norway and Hungary.