HILDENBOROUGH RIDING LANE (west side) TQ 54 NE 5/197 Great Forge Farmhouse 29.1.90 GV II Former farmhouse. Early C16 or earlier in origin with late C16/early C17 alterations. Framed construction, the ground floor underbuilt in Flemish bond brick of different dates; peg-tile roof, stacks with brick shafts. Plan: The house faces west. The main block may be the remains of a Wealden type house. It is 3 rooms wide with a through passage to left of centre, higher end to the right (south) with the hall stack backing on to the passage. The inner room is jettied. The service room, to the left (north) was originally unheated and divided into 2. A circa late C16/early C17 rear service wing to the north east was probably a kitchen and was originally heated by a smoke bay. A later outshot has been added along the inner (south) side of the rear wing. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3 window front, the roof gabletted at the left end, gabled at the right. The right (south) end is jettied to the front and the return, the left (north) end to the front only. C19 gabled porch to the cross passage to left of centre. Tudor arched inner door to the porch with moulded cover strips.' C20 3-light casements with diamond leaded panes except ground floor right which is a circa late C16/early C17 7-light bay window with a transom and chamfered mullions. The left end stack is probably C18 or C19; the rear wing has a large projecting stack with a ragstone base and paired brick shafts. Interior: Good survival of late C16/early C17 features. The hall has a chamfered axial beam with canted stops and an open fireplace with one stone and one brick jamb and an original lintel. The partition between hall and inner room has been removed. The inner room has a similarly finished beam to the hall and exposed joists, a trimmer indicates the position of a former stair in the outer rear corner. The rear wing has a massive kitchen fireplace with brick jambs and a bread oven. The chamber over the hall has a blocked fireplace with a chamfered lintel. Some of the first floor wall-framing survives with rough jowl posts and large tension braces. Roof: Clasped purlin roof with evidence of a smoke bay to the rear wing. Listing NGR: TQ5664249482