forge/smithy

Detached three-bay single-storey forge, c.1875, on a corner site with two-bay single-storey rear (east) elevation. Now disused. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, red brick Running bond chimney stacks having stringcourses, and no rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves having remains of timber eaves board. Coursed random rubble limestone walls with tooled cut-limestone quoins to corners. Square-headed window openings with cut-limestone sills, tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds (no surrounds to rear (east) elevation), red brick voussoirs, and timber boarded panel fittings. Horse shoe-shaped door opening with tooled cut-limestone surround, and timber boarded double doors. Set back from line of road in own grounds on a corner site with unkempt grounds having random rubble limestone boundary wall to perimeter of site.

A mid to late nineteenth-century forge representing an important, if small-scale artefact of the industrial heritage of County Kilkenny. Belying the functional purpose of the site the building incorporates a range of distinctive features enhancing the architectural design value of the composition including a characteristic horse shoe-shaped opening: dressings in brick and limestone exhibiting high quality masonry further enliven the external expression of the range. Occupying a prominent position in the centre of Kilfane the forge forms a picturesque landmark enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the locality.