Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Date of Designation
08/02/1996
Date of Amendment
08/02/1996
Name of Property
Smithy at Forge Cottage
Unitary Authority
Pembrokeshire
Community
Stackpole and Castlemartin
Exterior
Adjacent to Forge cottage, at N.
Smithy believed to have been set up by Dick Williams (1854-1930) in c.1875, and used for the Stackpole Estate. Several of his sons followed in the same trade and may have been apprenticed to their father here. One set up a smithy at Cheriton.
Description: Large single-room smithy built at N of Forge Cottage. Two blacksmith's hearths sharing a W gable chimney. Partially rough-cast rendered externally together with the house, but plain rubble masonry at far side and rear. Four-bay slate covered roof with ridge-vents. Short brick chimney. Trusses with tiebeams and collar beams. Small windows at N and E only, with workbenches at sills. Cobbled floor. Large entrance doorway, originally open, at SE corner facing the house.
The hearth at the N of the two appears to be the earlier. It is complete with bellows and tuyere, but the supporting frame for the bellows is missing. The hearth at the S is set at an angle and has an extraordinary brick arched flue into the chimney. Elm-block set in the floor for a (missing) anvil, at left. Bellows with tuyere at rear, the supporting frame broken. Broken stone bosh at right. Both hearths are still full of breeze. Bars and racks for tools on the walls.
A circular cast-iron plate with a central hole, for supporting wheels for banding, lies in the garden in front of the house.
Listed as a good example of a village smithy with two nearly complete hearths.
References: Local information (Mr and Mrs Nicholas)
Rev. J H Richards, St Twvnnells Parish Registers Index (1992)
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]