Old Forge

Old Forge

A former cottage and stable later adapted for use as a shop and blacksmiths' forge. The building dates from the 18th century with alterations from the 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed of coursed sandstone blocks of varying size with ashlar dressings, has a slate roof, and stands two storeys high.

The building lies parallel to George Street at its junction with School Hill, following a rectangular plan with a distinctive curved south-east corner that traces the line of School Hill. The George Inn is attached to the north-west end but is not included in this listing. A structure shown on historical Ordnance Survey maps to the rear of the building no longer exists.

The front elevation facing George Street contains four alternating windows and doors at ground floor, all with painted ashlar surrounds. Two of the windows are boarded over externally, though multipaned windows remain visible from inside. The right doorway contains a panelled door, whilst the left doorway has been enlarged with a later timber sliding door inserted, probably during the early 20th-century conversion to a smithy and forge. A stone mounting block is attached to the right of the elevation. Two smaller square windows are set at first-floor level, aligned with the ground-floor windows below; the left window has a plank and batten timber shutter with strap hinges, whilst the right is boarded over externally. A 20th-century brick ridge stack sits at the centre of the pitched roof, believed to have replaced the original stack when the building was converted into a forge. The curved south-east corner incorporates a dentil cornice to its upper part and a narrow former shop window at ground floor. Later strap ties have been added to this corner to prevent movement.

The rear elevation has been rendered in the past with ashlar-imitative scoring, though most render has since been removed or fallen away. A blocked ground-floor window and door are visible, though the door's upper part is only partly visible due to substantially raised ground levels at the rear; the door remains fully visible internally as a plank door.

Internally, the building is divided by a party wall into two halves, containing two rooms at ground floor and one at first floor in the north-west end; the corresponding first-floor room in the south-eastern half has been lost when its floor was removed during the forge conversion. The north-western ground-floor room served as a stable and retains a stone sett floor, saddle pegs fixed to the walls, and substantial ceiling beams with chamfered edges. An open trapdoor and wooden foot-hole ladder provide access to the room above, possibly a hayloft and additional accommodation, which retains early rafters and purlins and a pegged king-post truss. The south-eastern room has a stone flag floor and was used as a forge. An early 20th-century forge kiln has been inserted into a former domestic stone fireplace at ground-floor level, with its flue rising to use the former cottage's pre-existing chimney and a further fireplace above. The roof structure matches the north-western half with early rafters and purlins and a pegged king-post truss. Structural ties protrude through the south-east corner into the space.