Genealogy Chat

Have obtained my gg grandparents marriage certificate and fathers occupation is listed as "puddler". Anybody any ideas on what this could be? They lived an area of steel works and pits so don't know if this could be linked. Any help greatly appreciated.

I always thought a Puddler was the chap who puddled the clay in brick making. Sue.

Judith - just looked in dictionary. Puddling - the process by which pig-iron is decarbonised and turned into wrought iron. S.

Thanks. That would fit in with the steel works in the area.

This one one from the scotlandspeople site - Puddler - an ironworker operating a puddling or ball furnace.

Hi, I believe puddlers were the men who "puddled" the clay used in lining, and therefore warterproofing, the canal system. Navigators were the men who dug the canals (therefore Navvies - which later became used to describe any manual /building worker) but puddlers were required to maintain the canals throughout their life (the canals that is), hope this helps. W. Allen Dugdale

One of my ancestors was a puddler too! According to the site ... http://cpcug(.)org/user/jlacombe/terms(.)html A puddler ... worked clay into puddle, worked with puddle to make things water tight eg canal walls or worked in puddling iron He lived in Stockton-On-Tees, an industrial area (though less so now). Rgds. Jason.