Forder Forder Cottage

Forder Cottage is a farmhouse, originally probably dating from the early 16th century, with substantial remodelling occurring in the mid to late 17th century. It has been divided into two cottages. Constructed of local limestone rubble, the front first floor is roughcast. It has a thatched roof with gabled ends, with a lower section of the front slope partly covered in scantle slate. Stone chimney stacks with tapered caps rise from the gable ends.

The original plan likely involved two or three rooms, possibly with a through or cross passage, with the lower end to the right. Initially open to the roof, the roof structure is complex due to reuse of timbers. A new floor was inserted in the late 17th century, after which the eaves were raised and the front wall was rebuilt slightly forward. A probable extension occurred at the higher end in the 18th century. Gable end stacks once heated the higher and lower end rooms, and the hall also had a front lateral stack, which has since been truncated. Recently, the partitions dividing the passage have been removed, creating a single large room from the lower end room and the hall. The house is now split into two cottages, with the higher end room forming one and the hall and lower end forming the other.

The exterior has two storeys and an asymmetrical four-window front. It features 19th-century three-light casement windows with glazing bars. Dormers are present on the first floor, including two recessed eaves dormers centrally and a half dormer to the right, with a slate-hung gable. A 20th-century plank door is on the left of centre, and a 20th-century glazed door with a small glazed porch is to the right of centre.

Inside, the central room, believed to be the hall, displays light scantling chamfered cross beams; one with run-out stops and the other with long hollow stepped stops. The lower room has unchamfered cross-beams. The room at the higher end – one of the cottages – was inaccessible during the 1986 survey. The roof features smoke-blackened reused trusses with straight principals resting on a wall plate, morticed apexes, threaded diagonal ridge-pieces, and halved and pegged collars. Many smoke-blackened rafters and wide battens also remain.