Forge House

Forge House

This is an 18th-century house that has undergone later alterations and additions. It is built of red brick with a tiled roof and has stucco applied to the front elevation. All windows are modern 21st-century replacements in timber (with one uPVC example to the rear), comprising casements and sashes.

The house faces south and is arranged over two storeys beneath a pitched roof with external brick stacks positioned at both the east and west ends. A cellar lies beneath the west side of the building. To the rear, there is a short cross-wing extending to the east with an internal gable stack, and a single-storey outshut to the west, filling the angle between the cross-wing and main range. The outshut appears to be a later addition, possibly from the 19th century. A single-storey extension from the 20th century, which formerly served as a small shop, projects from the west end; behind this is a second single-storey extension dating to the late 20th century. A separate small brick outbuilding with a pitched roof and rear stack stands to the west of the house and dates to the mid-19th century based on mapping evidence.

Internally, the house is entered through a central lobby with four-panel doors opening to principal rooms on either side. Both of these rooms contain substantial transverse beams running front to back, which are chamfered with lambs-tongue stops. Each room has a fireplace with simple 19th-century painted chimneypieces featuring mantle-shelves on corbel brackets. The eastern room contains a full-height built-in corner cupboard with panelled doors and shaped shelves, probably dating to the 18th century. Behind these principal rooms lies the kitchen within the cross-wing, which also features a chamfered and stopped beam; this gives access to the cellar stair. The cellar has brick walls and floor.

Behind the western room, a straight-flight stair ascends to the first floor, running between a studwork wall and the original rear wall of the house (now enclosed externally by the outshut). The door between the west room and stair hall has two raised and fielded panels and is held on strap hinges; it appears to be of some age, possibly 18th century, though it has been rehung. The transverse beam from the west room continues through the studwork over the foot of the stair to the rear wall. Exposed timber studwork and other structural elements are visible within the stair hall and stairwell, though their date is unclear; evidence suggests structural alteration to accommodate the current configuration of the straight stair.

The first-floor landing has turned balusters, probably of 20th-century date, and provides access to each room through plank and batten doors. Exposed tie beams are visible in the ceilings of all rooms, though those on the first floor are not chamfered or stopped. The eastern first-floor room contains a fireplace with a simple flat surround and small mantle-shelf.

The front elevation is stuccoed and scored to mimic ashlar blockwork, with a decorative storey band of scored lines and crosses. The central doorway is wide and slightly recessed, with a six-panel door and half-glazed side panels. Wide tripartite sash windows without glazing bars are positioned to either side at each floor level. The shop extension to the west has a tripartite sash window and a blocked doorway; its side elevation is clad with concrete tiles.

The rear elevation is of red brick laid in Flemish bond. It comprises the gable end of the cross-wing and the rear of the main range, the latter largely obscured by the outshut but showing evidence of alteration through sections of abutting unbonded brickwork. A stepped brick eaves cornice runs along the main range and the return of the cross-wing. Windows are arranged irregularly, positioned either beneath the eaves or beneath shallow segmental arches. A stable door leads from the outshut. The late 20th-century extension to the west is a single-storey pitched-roof structure of red brick with glazed folding doors.

The west end wall is coated in unpainted stucco, while the east end wall is brick with the stack coated in stucco.