Description

SS 91 NW STOODLEIGH STOODLEIGH

9/177 The Old Forge
-

GV II

House incorporating former forge, wheelwright's shop and adjoining linhay. House C18
or earlier in origin, thoroughly remodelled in the C19 when the forge may have been
added; late C19 wheelwright's shop; linhay C18 in origin but altered late C19/early
C20. Cob and stone rubble with some brick dressings; house and former forge with
slate roof, hipped at right end, gabled to left of left return 3 stacks;
wheelwright's shop with slate roof, gabled at ends; linhay with tiled roof (formerly
thatched) and weatherboarded to the front elevation.
Plan: 3 adjoining ranges attractively grouped round a pitched stone courtyard.
Complex evolution possibly originating as a farmhouse and buildings subsequently
remodelled and extended as cottages and rural industrial workshops and now in use as
a house with adjoining outbuilding. The north range consists of a single depth house
with the former forge at the right end, end in to the road. At the left end the
house returns to the front taking in what was probably once part of the C18 linhay,
giving a room at the north range a second room to the right heated by an axial stack
with a stair and service rooms to the right and the former forge, heated from a front
lateral stack at the right end. The linhay range, adjoining left return of the house
and divided from it by an C18 brick wall, has been extended to the front concealing
the open-fronted arrangement. The former wheelwright's shop (single-storey) adjoins
the former forge at right angles to it giving the third side of the courtyard.
Exterior: 2 storey house with a 4 window front elevation with a gabled timber C19
porch to left of centre and a 2-leaf glazed door with glazing bars to the right.
Timber casement windows, C19 or C20, with glazing bars. Weaterboarded front to
linhay. The right return of the wheelwright's shop,, facing the road, has 2 large
small-pane fixed windows with glazing bars and lapped glass.
Interior: No outstanding features; the open fireplace to the axial stack has a
replaced lintel and C19 bread oven; pretty mid C19 china cupboard with glazed door to
left of rear lateral stack, joinery C18 and C19.
An attractive group in the centre of the village and an interesting example of a
former village industrial complex. Group value with the adjacent Barns Cottage.

Listing NGR: SS9218418941

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26611218

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record