Late 19th century blacksmiths workshop at The Old Forge, the Hop Poles public house (EHER 40859)

There has been a blacksmiths workshop on the site since the 1870s but the present building dates from the 1890s and may have been built at the same time as additions were made to the adjacent public house. The forge has altered little apart from a small outshot to the rear. There has been some modern sub-division of the interior but the hearth and chimney and some panelling remains. The building is of four bays and is single storey; it is constructed of brick and has a pantile gable roof. The building was assessed for listing in 2008 but failed to meet the required criteria.

2008. Building survey. The survey was a condition of approval for a change of use to the Old Forge building. It is a brick and tile building with full gabled ends. The building appears to date from the late 19th century by the materials and methods used in its construction. The tiled roof is possibly secondary as it is noted as having a slate roof when sold in 1923. It comprises a main gabled front unit and a continuous rear lean-to with access doors at each end. The main range has double doors to the western area, fitted out originally for the tethering of horses. The main central area open through to the lean-to is entered by a stable type door still with one original catch. A closed and ceiled room to the east is entered by a door from the central area. The building was almost certainly built by the Hallingbury Estate and shows the quality of finish often found in estate buildings. The gable end to the road is finished in diamond diaper patterns using flared headers. Flemish bond brickwork is used for the main faces of the building with Monk bond to the rear elevation. Very little remains of its life as a forge, a chimney stack much rebuilt at the bottom, an area of heavily boarded flooring and enough space behind the hearth position for a bellows and very little else. A good little building but one that has successfully disguised its previous use by the removal of most fittings for its use as a store. <1> NRHE data transfer: Bedlars Green is a small hamlet on the Essex/Hertfordshire border; the remnants of the ancient Hatfield Forest, owned by the National Trust, lie immediately to the east. Most of the housing stock is of 20th century date, but there are 4 listed buildings in the hamlet, including the Hop Poles, which is described as a 19th century public house and was listed in 1983. Historic map evidence indicates that there has been a smithy adjacent to the public house since at least the 1870s, although the current building appears to date from the 1890s and from its form and use of materials is contemporary with additions made to the public house. A wheelwrights shop located just to the east of the public house was historically and functionally associated with the smithy until its demolition in the 20th century. The forge appears little altered from the exterior with the exception of the small outshot to the rear which is a later addition. The interior inspection revealed that there has been some modern sub-division of the structure but that the hearth and chimney, rebuilt in the later 20th century, and some wall panelling remains. A four-bay, single storey former forge, probably of the 1890s, constructed in red-orange and occasional blue brick laid in Flemish bond, with a pantiled, gable roof. The façade has double-doors to the left and a central stable-door. There are two contemporary casement windows of 36 and 24 lights to the right, with cast-iron frames and glazing bars and moulded blue brick cills. To the rear is a brick chimney stack on the rear pitch of the main gable and a small outshot of later date with a 20th century ash-felt roof. The west gable, facing the road, has black diapered brick work and a partly-louvred arch window; the west gable end is plain. There are modern plaster board and brick partitions to the rear and right; in the central compartment is the rebuilt hearth and some contemporary flooring comprising partly of pamments and wooden planks where the horses would have stood. The central two bays have part-panelled walls. The plank ridge-piece roof structure has trenched purlins and two raking shore trusses which appear to be of late 19th or early 20th century date; the third truss has been replaced. The forge at the Hop Poles Public House is not recommended for designation for the following principal reasons: It is a late and undistinguished example of a forge, pedestrian in its construction, with significant elements having been rebuilt or replaced. <2>