Blacksmith's Shop is a Grade II listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. Blacksmith's shop.
Blacksmith's Shop
- WRENN ID
- white-garret-crimson
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Dorset
- Constituency
- South Dorset MP: Lloyd Hatton (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Type
- Blacksmith's shop
- Address
- Blacksmith's Shop, Portland
- OS grid reference
- SY 694 735
- Coordinates
- 50.56089, -2.43223
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Blacksmith's Shop is a former racquets court that has been converted into a prison blacksmith's shop, built around 1875. It is likely designed by Captain W. Crossman of the Royal Engineers. The structure is made of Portland stone with a rock-faced finish and features a corrugated asbestos-cement roof.
This long rectangular building has two storeys and seven bays, oriented on a north/south axis. The north gable consists of three bays with arched openings on the first floor, which are filled with glass blocks. The heavy cills support a single light with a cambered head and a wide garage opening with a concrete lintel. The building has a moulded string course, a raised coped verge, and an apex stack with cavetto capping, topped by an oculus.
On the west side, a prominent steel staircase leads up to a central door at first-floor level. This door is flanked by a series of pilasters and features recessed panels, with the upper half set back slightly from the lower half. The east side is similar but does not have a staircase. The Blacksmith's Shop is noted for its vigorous detailing, characteristic of other buildings in The Verne complex. The interior has not been inspected.
Local climate
Blacksmith's Shop receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 55% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 13 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 88% of listed buildings. Of these, 5 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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