Farm Building (Former Blowing House) About 48 Metres West Of Oakdale House

Farm Building (Former Blowing House) About 48 Metres West of Oakdale House

This stone and brick farm building, probably a former blowing house for ironworks, dates from the 17th century with alterations made in the early to mid-18th century and again in the 19th century. It is a significant surviving example of pre-Industrial Revolution ironworking infrastructure from the Forest of Dean industrial area.

The building is constructed with random-rubble stone on the ground floor, roughly coursed in the centre of the south gable. Above this, the walls are built in mixed Flemish and English bond brickwork to the sides, with Flemish bond to the gable. The right wing sits on a high stone plinth at ground floor level, with late timber-framing above the first floor, now faced with corrugated iron. The main block has a tiled roof, while the extension is roofed with corrugated iron. The plan is L-shaped, with the main range on the left containing two rooms along its length, and both wings rising to two storeys. The ground level rises substantially behind the building towards the road.

The south façade, facing away from the road, displays the most characterful features. The left side has a notably tall ground floor with rough stone end walls and later stonework infill between them, approximately 340mm thick. Entrance is via double-boarded doors with a small door cut into the right half, all set beneath heavy door posts and a cambered timber lintel with a brick arch above. The upper storey contains a two-light shuttered window in the centre, each light fitted with two iron bars and spanned by a cambered brick arch. Above this, the roof offset reveals an exposed king-post truss with part-rendered brick infill and two pairs of braces. The right wing is set back and features a tall window and boarded door at ground floor level, with two tall windows and a further boarded door at first-floor level, the entire elevation no higher than the ground floor on the left. The left return shows two low blocked openings, one with a semi-circular head, and a later small square window. Above is a three-light window with leaded lights.

Stonework returns on the left enclose two sides of a courtyard, likely associated with the ironworks and serving as retaining walls. Behind the retaining wall lies the end of a single-storey brick lean-to adjoining the main section's gable, with a small chimney.

The interior contains a tall room accessed via the double doors. Internal buttresses are visible on the left, while the right wall is thicker at low level with a slightly curving face. The rear wall is constructed of brick-nogged timber-framing and curves in plan, dating from a later phase than the stonework. The ceiling is plastered. A large semi-circular headed opening in the right wall connects to the rear room, though this aperture is partly blocked by a timber-framed wall of the later phase. The rear room contains small windows in each side wall and a blocked square iron grille in the gable. It is spanned by a low brick barrel vault. Access to the upper storey exists only from outside, via stone steps leading to a quarter landing that serves two rooms. The rear room on this level is brick-paved, and both upper rooms have plastered ceilings and are lofted. The roof above comprises three bays with trusses matching those in the gable, two pairs of flat purlins, and a square ridge.

Historical Development

Documentary evidence records a corn mill on this site dating from the 16th or early 17th century. By 1645, it had been converted to ironworks, and by 1658 it became part of the Foley iron-working partnership, a major enterprise in the Forest of Dean region. The works apparently ceased operating by the mid-18th century, with evidence suggesting iron working had ceased by approximately 1730 rather than 1778 as previously recorded. The king-post trusses visible in the building are likely early 18th-century insertions, and the evidence suggests the main range originally extended further to the south. The low wing on the right underwent considerable alteration in the late 19th century.

The building forms a group with Oakdale House and a former charcoal barn (also listed), representing important surviving remains of the early ironworking industry before the Industrial Revolution proper. Its presence as an outlier of the Forest of Dean industrial area provides valuable evidence of the region's economic significance during this period.