Chillenden Forge

Chillenden Forge

Blacksmith's workshop, built in around the 17th century and extended in about the mid-19th century.

The building is constructed of red brick with a timber roof structure covered in pan tiles and asbestos sheets. It is L-shaped in plan, comprising a mid-19th-century range oriented north-south, fronting onto the village lane, which adjoins a 17th-century cross range extending from the south end of the east (rear) elevation. A small shed also adjoins the rear of the forge at the north-east.

The building is single-storey with a hipped roof. The main elevation of the mid-19th-century range fronts onto the village lane and is two bays wide, featuring a timber-boarded sliding cart door and a segmental-headed five-light casement window. The north elevation is blind. The mid-19th-century range is built onto the earlier cross range; a buttress in the south elevation appears to mark the joint in the brickwork between the two ranges. The brickwork of the 17th-century cross range is largely handmade red brick laid in English bond, which contrasts with the mid-19th-century brick laid in Flemish bond. The south elevation has a brick plinth, a timber-boarded door, a single-light segmental-headed casement window, and a blocked opening. A tall brick chimney stack with a clay chimney pot rises from this side of the building. The east elevation of the cross range has a two-light casement window situated off-centre, which is currently missing one light and glazing. This rear elevation appears to retain the original 17th-century brickwork to the full height of the gable, although with some repairs and refacing. The brickwork to the plinth is currently falling away in places. The north wall of the cross range has a blocked window and a door opening where some of the brickwork has fallen away. Set into the ground next to the shed is a stone or concrete wheel clamp used for fitting an iron tyre onto a cart wheel.

The forge interior contains a brick furnace and chimney, and the floor is partly earthen and partly cobbled, the latter in the mid-19th-century extension. A scar in the south wall appears to mark the location of the former return wall of the 17th-century range, probably dismantled when the mid-19th-century range was built adjoining it. The forge is open to a timber hipped roof structure with tie beams and collar ties strengthened with iron straps.

A timber and corrugated iron shed attached to the north-east is in dilapidated condition and is excluded from the listing.