The Forge, The Street (EHER 80104)

The forge is a single storey 19th century building which would have originally been divided into two rooms. At the north-eastern end of the building, built into the wall of the structure, is the forge itself, which appears to survive largely intact.

Historic Building Record. October 2020. The historic building survey recorded a single storey, single room building with an intact forge on the north-eastern walls. The building first appears on cartographic evidence on the 1896 Ordnance Survey map labelled as 'smithy'. After 1920 it is not labelled as such, suggesting that it was used for an alternative purpose. Building exterior: The building covers around 69 square metres and has a gabled roof, covered in corrugated asbestos panels. Despite the intact forge on the interior of the building, there is no surviving chimney projecting above the ridge-line. The south-east elevation of the building has two replacement entrances, one stable door and one large double-width door. Building interior: The interior of the building is a single room, although originally it appears to have been subdivided into two. The floor of the building is entirely concrete, the interior walls are all unrendered and the room is modern machine cut timber. At the north-eastern end of the building, built into the wall of the structure, is the forge itself. The interior brickwork of the building, particularly at its northern end, is smoke and soot blackened. The forge appears largely intact and contains much ash and debris, and its chimney rises from its western side and has only a small opening. The building also contains two hardwood tables which appear partially built into and supported by the structure’s brickwork, suggesting they are original. The original casement window on the north-west elevation has had several iron straps added to its frame on the interior, presumably for the purposes of security. <1>