The Village Shop And The Old Forge

The Village Shop and The Old Forge are two dwellings and a shop, likely dating from the early 16th century, with subsequent alterations and extensions. The building has a roughcast cob and stone exterior and a gable-end roof covered in asbestos slate. It is arranged in a roughly L-shaped plan.

Range A, facing the Square, was originally a three-room, through-passage house. The service end was likely on the right side of the dismantled passage, now occupied by The Old Forge (which has not been internally examined). The hall and passage, initially open to the roof, were divided from the inner room by a closed jointed cruck truss, and from the service end by a full-height partition independent of the other cruck truss over the hall. Range A connects to Range B, which faces Fore Street; the original layout of Range B is unclear, but a fragment of a full-height partition, darkened with soot, might mark the division between the hall and a small, adjacent room. The building's location at the centre of the late medieval area of Kentisbeare, similar to buildings in Silverton, suggests it may be the remnants of a block of several dwellings. The service end had an end stack, while the hall was heated by a central axial stack that probably backed onto the passage.

The exterior of Range A (facing the Square) has a four-window front. The first-floor windows are 3-light casements, with the window above the Post Office featuring six leaded panes in the outer fixed lights and a pegged frame. The ground floor of The Old Forge has early 19th-century 3-light casement windows, while the Post Office has 20th-century shop windows, with a canted corner window. Attractive double doors, with paneling below and patterned glazing bars above (likely from the early 19th century), are positioned between the shop windows. The Fore Street elevation of Range B has a 3-window front, with 3-light casement windows on the first floor, each with eight leaded panes. There are two taller 19th-century 3-light casement windows to the left of the doorway, which is sheltered by a porch supported on brackets. A stack is located at the left-hand end.

The interior of the shop, formed by combining the original inner room and hall in the 19th century, is supported by an iron pier. The inner room features a chamfered axial beam with run-out stops, while the hall has a similar ceiling beam with scroll stops and a bracket at the higher end. Range B originally had a window stair opposite the current entrance, and a further stair to the rear of its putative hall area.

The roof structure includes two jointed crucks with Alcock F2 apex carpentry. The higher truss and the lower partition are sooted on the hall side only. The trenched purlins extend into the service end. Range B has been re-roofed with collar rafter trusses, crossed and pegged at the apex, which are likely from the 18th century.