The Forge Cottage

The Forge Cottage is a timber-framed cottage of the late 17th century with 19th-century alterations and 20th-century additions, located in Tarrington.

The building originated as two single-cell cottages arranged as a single-depth, two-bay structure. It is now one and a half storeys high, clad externally in brick laid in Flemish bond, with the western half of the frontage rendered. The roof is covered in grey slate with dormer windows and a projecting side stack to the gable. The windows are timber casements set in segmental brick arches, and the doors are plain timber planks with small rectangular timber drip hoods. The eastern gable features a protruding stepped chimney breast with brick stack. A 19th-century lean-to extension projects to the rear with a small brick chimney stack on its east side, over which the main roof extends. A recent central cross-wing extension with a timber-framed gable and dormer windows to either side has been added to the rear. Rear fenestration is irregular throughout, with all windows being timber casements. Two timber plank doors serve the rear, one in the new cross wing and another to the east beneath a small slate-clad gabled roof. The western gable joins the adjacent property.

The interior retains two principal chambers on the ground floor with exposed box framing featuring diagonal wind braces and carpenters' marks; the main uprights are set on stone pads. The easternmost room contains a large brick chimney breast in the gable wall with a rebuilt arch, two roughly chamfered spine beams with exposed joists. The original timber-framed rear wall has been retained as a partition with some infill removed, and the original rear door opens into the lean-to extension, which has a brick-built chimney breast and oven. In the westernmost room is a moulded chamfered beam with a pyramid stop at the western end, though the absence of a corresponding stop at the east end suggests this beam may have been re-used from an earlier building. An 18th-century fireplace stands in the west gable wall. An early winder staircase provides access to the upper floors. The bedrooms on the upper floor occupy the original loft space where jowelled posts, wall plate, and the bases of the roof trusses are exposed, showing slightly curving windbreaks and diagonally set trenched principal purlins. The trusses continue into the remaining loft space with the original ridge piece and a halfed apex. Surviving early joinery includes original door frames, braced plank doors, floorboards, and alcove cupboard doors.

The building first appears on the 1843 Ordnance Survey map. Despite its 19th-century external appearance, the surviving details of the frame suggest a date of construction in the late 17th century.

The cottage preserves the remains of a simple timber box-frame building, originally comprising two small-scale dwellings with the frame surviving largely intact, including most of the roof structure and interior elements such as partitions, staircases, and original openings. This provides an important example of local timber-framing techniques. Simple, small-scale dwellings are underrepresented in the national building stock compared to grander examples. The pair of cottages remain easily readable despite later alterations and are valued for their simple vernacular character. The survival of the adjacent forge and other outbuildings, though heavily altered, contributes to the group value.