Description

TARRINGTON

1133/0/10007 The Forge Cottage
20-AUG-07

GV II
Cottage, late C17 with C19 alterations and C20 additions

MATERIALS: Timber frame with C19 brick cladding and rendering and grey slate roof with dormer windows and projecting side stack to the gable.

PLAN: A single depth two bay building with later, rear, single storey lean-to and modern, upper floor, cross wing to the rear. Originally two single cell cottages.

EXTERIOR: The exterior of the one and a half storey cottage is clad in brick in Flemish bond, the western half of the frontage is rendered. The windows are timber casements set in segmental brick arches, and the plain timber plank doors have small, rectangular, timber drip hoods. The eastern gable has a protruding stepped chimney breast with brick stack. To the rear elevation the roof is extended over the C19 lean-to extension which has a small brick chimney stack on the east side. There is a recent central cross wing extension with a timber framed gable and dormer windows to either side. The rear fenestration is irregular; all the windows are timber casements. There are two timber plank doors, one in the new cross wing and another to the east, with a small slate clad gabled roof. The western gable joins the adjacent property.

INTERIOR: There are two principal chambers on the ground floor. They have exposed box framing with diagonal wind braces, some carpenters' marks and the main uprights are set on stone pads. The easternmost room has a large brick chimney breast in the gable wall, with rebuilt arch; there are two roughly chamfered spine beams, with exposed joists. The timber framing of the original rear wall has been retained as a partition with some infill removed and the original rear door gives access into the lean-to extension, which has a brick built chimney breast and oven. In the westernmost room is a moulded chamfered beam with pyramid stop at the western end, although the absence of a corresponding stop at the east end, suggests that this beam may have been re-used from an earlier building. A C18 fireplace is in the west gable wall. An early winder staircase gives access to the upper floors. On the upper floor, the bedrooms occupy the original loft space. The jowelled posts, wall plate, and bases of the roof trusses are exposed, with slightly curving windbreaks and diagonally set trenched principal purlins. The trusses continue in the remaining loft space, with original ridge piece, and a halfed apex. The surviving early joinery also includes original door frames, braced plank doors, floorboards and alcove cupboard doors.

HISTORY: The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1843. Despite its C19 exterior appearance, the details of the frame, which survive largely intact, suggests a date of construction in the late C17.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE:
Forge Cottage preserves the remains of a simple C17 timber box frame building, originally two small scale dwellings which survive largely intact, including most of the roof structure and elements of interior joinery such as partitions, staircases and original openings. As such it provides an important example of the development of local timber framing techniques. Simple, small scale dwellings survive less frequently than grander examples and are therefore underrepresented in the national building stock. This pair of cottages remain easily readable, despite later alterations, and are valued for their very simple vernacular character. The survival of the adjacent forge and other outbuildings, albeit heavily altered adds to the group value.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671438

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living