Forge Cottage

Forge Cottage is a house dating back to the 16th century, with floors and a chimney added in the 17th century, a northwest extension built in the 18th or 19th century, and an eastern part constructed in the 20th century. The structure is timber-framed with brick nogging, later brick additions, and a plastered front finished to resemble ashlar. It has steep red tile roofs with three changes in height along the front. The house is a complex four-cell design with a two-story layout, an internal chimney plan facing south, a former baffle entry, and a stair turret behind the chimney. A large, three-stepped chimney rises on the rear slope of the roof. There are four windows on each floor of the south front, arranged irregularly. Each window is a three-light cast iron casement with small panes. A battened door, sheltered by a lean-to tiled porch, leads into a 20th-century stair hall within the eastern extension. The first room on the left-hand side features an axial, chamfered floor beam with chamfered and stopped joists. Beyond the substantial chimney is a higher room with chamfered floor beams and square joists, exhibiting jowled posts, a cambered tie-beam, and wide panels in the wall framing. Additional carpentry details include curved braces to tie beams, curved wind-braces to clasped purlin queen-struts and a collar truss. The original floor is made of thick tiles stamped with a cross on a shield. A rear outshut has a catslide roof, and large external chimneys were added later on the rear northwest side and at the western gable. A Boxmoor grazing rights plaque, numbered 583 (a second plaque numbered 582 is affixed to the back door), is also present.