Made for GTR in England
The last horn works left in Britain, and the people who make our horn pieces.
Abbeyhorn has worked horn in England for more than 275 years. It is the last horn works left in Britain.
It started in 1749 as the Horn Works in Bewdley, Worcestershire, making combs, spoons, scoops and shoe lifts from the horn of local cattle. Over the next two centuries it moved north, to Gloucester, then to Kendal, and merged with an old horn comb works along the way.
Since 1991 it has worked out of a small factory in Holme, on the edge of the Lake District. The Cleasby family runs it now, the fifth owners in its long history. Paul Cleasby first walked in as an apprentice horn worker at sixteen.
We went to them for the pieces we wanted to keep by the door and carry on the road. Each one is made for GTR by Abbeyhorn and marked with our Bull in silver.
Horn is a byproduct of the herd. Heated, it turns pliable. Pressed into a form, it holds the shape. Then it is cut, sanded and polished until the grain comes up, dark tortoise running to honey.
Because it is horn and not plastic, no two pieces are the same color, and it takes on more of a shine the more you use it. Horn glides through hair without static, and slides into a boot without crushing the heel.
