Welcome to The Forge

As its name suggests, this house used to be a blacksmith’s forge and workshop. And not just any blacksmiths, but that of Lord Llangattock aka the Rolls Family aka Rolls-Royce.

Here it is in 1904. They’re working on the track for Charles Rolls‘ patent weight-assisted aeroplane launcher.

We believe the building has been here since the mid-1800s. Not much of the view of the front of the house has changed – all the front windows and front door are still there, but the chimney stack is gone from the forge itself.

There’s still lots of signs of its industrial past. Inside the house you can see original blacksmithing tools hanging in what is now the fireplace.

One of the front windows has a doodle on it – we like to think this is from a bored apprentice.

There are three rings at the back of the kitchen/pantry where horses would have been tied when being reshoed.

The beams in the kitchen have holes in them from where the shoes for each horse were hung. 

The lock on our bedroom feels like it kept valuable materials safe inside. And a gorgeous little panel of painted glass.

Outside, in the front garden is a hooping wheel. And we’ve found a number of old rusty horse shoes while clearing the front garden.

In the 1980s it was converted into a studio and later into a house and extended with a small, modern extension and a rather large studio built just below the house, looking to the stream and woodlands. 

This is what it looked like from the front when it went up for sale in the late 1990s. 

We’re now the third owner of The Forge as a house and this is what it looks like now. 

We’re in a conservation area so not much external change is allowed (though I’m itching a change in colour schemes). Our focus is going to be on the inside which is in need of modernising and updating and our stamp putting on it.

We won’t be increasing the footprint of the house or studio but working with an architect to make better use of the space we have. 

The next post will cover the garden and its current state in deepest, muddy winter. 

Dai