The Old Forge

The Old Forge is a house, later divided into three cottages, dating from the early 16th century. It is located in Brockford, near Wetheringsett-cum-Brockford, and fronts the Ipswich-Norwich road. The building is timber framed and rendered with a thatched roof. Originally consisting of two high-quality cells, the service end to the north has been lost. The house is two storeys and has an attic. It has a jetty underbuilt to the east, facing the road. The front has three windows, which are modern 3-light casements with horizontal glazing bars. There are two original plank doors, and mid-20th century French windows to the right. A single eyebrow dormer is visible on the roof. The main chimney has a rebuilt axial shaft. A smaller stack of red brick is set against the north gable end. A small, mid-20th century porch sits on the south gable end. A two-storey lean-to, built of rendered clay lump and covered with a slated roof, is attached to the rear (west).

Inside, the hall and parlour feature fine ceilings with fully-moulded floorbeams, joists with two hollow mouldings and cut-back stops. The hall has been divided into two rooms. There is evidence of former service doorways at the north gable end. The interior retains intact heavy studding with no visible bracing; close studding to the upper floor on the east side; and evidence of many original windows, which likely had square mullions. Ground floor studs to the east were pushed forward to underbuild the jetty, likely in the 17th century. The hall chamber has a roof truss with shallow braces and a plain crown-post with 2-way bracing to the collar purlin and cranked down braces to the tie beam. The remainder of the roof is intact. The stack is a later addition, likely preceded by a timber flue or smoke bay, as the timbers in the narrow bay where the stack stands are smoke-stained. 17th-century upper ceilings are also present.