The Old Forge

The Old Forge is an early 19th-century blacksmith’s or farrier’s shop located on the green in the hamlet of Broadwell, within the parish of Leamington Hastings. The building is constructed from red brick in stretcher bond, with a plain clay tile roof and brick stacks. The simple rectangular plan is oriented east-west, divided into two rooms: a forge to the west and a probable shoeing room to the east.

The single-storey range has a pitched roof and a three-bay front elevation facing the road. The two western bays housed the forge, each with a rectangular window opening under a timber lintel with an original timber external shutter. A ridge stack is present at each end of this room; the western stack has lost its top two courses of brickwork, while the eastern stack has a projecting course near the top. A double-door opening, also under a wide timber lintel, occupies the right-hand bay, although the doors are now missing, with the hinges remaining. The gable ends are blind.

Inside, the forge retains two brick hearths with arched openings below the furnaces, and brick-built smoke hoods leading to internal stacks. One hearth has a later 19th-century floor-standing bellows connected to the furnace by fixed pipework.

The building is prominently situated on the green, alongside a small area of land that would have been used for tethering horses and displaying wrought goods. It is adjacent to a row of cottages of a similar date. The building dates from the early 19th century and was in place by the 1841 census, when it was occupied by blacksmiths John Fletcher and his son Frederick.