Forge, Adj to 181 Hillhead Road, Tamniaran, Castledawson, Co Londonderry, BT45 8BN

Small single storey whitewashed brick blacksmith's forge located on the north-east side of Hillhead Road, just over 1 kilometre east of Castledawson. The building originally dates from some time prior to 1856 but was largely rebuilt around 1990 following significant damage. It is now operated as a local tourist attraction.

The forge appears in OS maps from 1832 showing a collection of buildings on this general site, though no structures are recorded in the first valuation. By around 1860, the property was documented as a forge in the second valuation, then owned by Barney Devlin, with whose descendants it remains. The owner reports that historically half the building functioned as a house and half as the forge, though the valuations refer only to it as a 'forge'. A photograph from around 1900 shows the building with a thatched roof and only one window to the front elevation. The property was largely demolished around 1988 when struck by a lorry, but was subsequently rebuilt and restored around 1990 using reclaimed brick supplied by the restoration team then working on Bellaghy Bawn.

The asymmetric front elevation faces south-west. To the right of centre is a doorway with a timber-sheeted door. To the left is a window opening with timber-sheeted shutters; to the right is a slightly taller window with a fixed six-pane timber frame (not original). Both the gables and rear elevation are blank. Markings to the rear elevation indicate there was formerly a window opening. The façade is whitewashed brick with a tarred base. Small whitewashed brick chimneys sit at each gable. The gabled roof is covered in bituminous felt.

The building retains a useable forge with large bellows and is of industrial archaeological interest. The owner suggests it inspired or was the subject of Seamus Heaney's poem 'The Forge', included in his 1969 anthology 'The Door into The Dark'. Heaney was born nearby at Mossbarn and spent his childhood in the area.