The Old Forge

PLYMTREE NORMANS GREEN ST 00 SE 3/138 The Old Forge - GV II

Cottage. Mid - late C17, enlarged in the late C19 - early C20, modernised with a service extension circa 1980. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; cob stack topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof. Plan: L-plan cottage facing south-east. The main block contains a parlour to left (south-west) with a rear lateral stack and entrance hall to right Behind the entrance hall is a kitchen/living room with a gable-end stack. This kitchen/living room is the historic core of the house. The front block was built in the late C19 - early C20. The original house had a 2-room plan; the larger heated room remains as the kitchen/living room but it seems that the unheated room was extended forward as part of the late C19 - early C20 rebuild and converted to the entrance hall. Cottage is 2 storeys with circa 1980 single storey service extension to rear which now includes the present kitchen. Exterior: irregular 2-window front of late C19 - early C20 casements with glazing bars and flat eyebrows over the first floor windows. The front doorway is near the right end; it contains a C20 door behind a contemporary thatch-roofed porch. The roof is half-hipped each end. The rear block roof (the C17 section) is gable-ended and unusually steeply pitched. One window in the rear block (first floor right on the south-west side) has flat-faced mullions and may be original. Interior: the C17 features are confined to the rear block. The room here has a deeply chamfered crossbeam and a large plastered fireplace with a small chamfer to the oak lintel. It includes a brick oven. The partition between the 2 original rooms remains largely intact. It is a full height closed truss of large scantling close-studded oak framing in which the sides of the posts are drilled with a series of holes to accommodate individual lathes which provide a ladder backing for the cob infil. The rear block has a single bay roof.

Listing NGR: ST0543903524