West Midlands, UK - Sixteen shire horses pulled a replica of the Titanic's sixteen ton stern anchor from Dudley to Netherton in a reverse historic re-enactment of the original's move from Noah Hingley's forge in Netherton to Dudley goods yard en route to the Harland & Wolff yard in Belfast. Hingley's made most of the original chain and anchors for the RMS Titanic in 1911 but not the 16 ton stern anchor whose shank was too large for Hingley's equipment and so was forged by Somers of Halesowen, although the anchor's shackles were forged by Hingley's.

The re-enactment was filmed for a new five-part series for Channel 4 and National Geographic called 'We Built Titanic' due to air in September which will feature engineers making parts of the ship. The cost of making the anchor was £50,000 and its long term future is believed to be housed at the Black Country Living Museum.

Sheffield Forgemasters, which made the replica anchor at Brightside Lane, was the only company in the UK capable of manufacturing the heavy components needed. It will be hammer-tested using a traditional Edwardian method which uses a 10lb sledge hammer to test its durability. The replica was made of a cast iron head and the wrought iron shank which was forged from a solid steel ingot, using Forgemasters' 4,000 tonne press.

In 1976, in the Black Country Bugle, Mr G W Edwards gave a first hand account of the manufacture. "The Titanic had three anchors, two at the bows and one at the stern," he said. "The bow anchors each weighed 8-and-a-half tons and their shanks were forged by Tom Curry, a skilled craftsman at Hingley's at that time. The heads of the anchors (Halls patent) were cast in Sheffield. The anchor chains, made by Hingley's, were of 3-and-aquarter inch diameter iron and were side-welded and they were each 900ft long (10 lengths of 15 fathoms). In those days ships were not equipped with stabilisers and the method of steadying a vessel in stormy conditions was to hang an anchor from the stern on a thick steel cable."

A 30ft section of Titanic's bow was also recreated as part of the TV series and unveiled in June beside the Belfast berthing dock where she was built a century ago. Fireworks exploded and the famous red and white flag of the White Star liner was raised once again as the giant steel structure was presented to a gathering of 200 in the Northern Ireland Science Park on Queen's Island. Addressing the audience at the launch, engineer Brendan Walker said, "We have been marvelling at the physical strength, speed and technique of the people that built this ship. We all know the tragedy and loss of that night in April 1912 but we are here to leave a tribute to the people who built Titanic - - those fine engineers. And, as we all know, the ship was fine when it left Belfast."

Titanic gates are currently for sale on SalvoWEB: These entrance gates are from the Harland and Wolff Ship Yard in Belfast, birthplace of the Titanic. This is a unique opportunity to acquire a magnificent period entrance with genuine historic significance.