Farm Building (Former Blowing House) About 48 Metres West of Oakdale House

Details

SO 72 NW OXENHALL FURNACE LANE (south side)

3/193 Farm building (former Blowing House about 48m west of Oakdale House 19.9.84

GV II

Probably former blowing house for ironworks, now farm building. C17, altered early-mid C18, C19. Random-rubble stone to ground floor, roughly coursed in centre of south gable; above mixed Flemish and English bond brickwork to sides, Flemish bond to gable. Right wing brick on high stone plinth to ground floor, first floor late timber-framing faced corrugated iron. Tiled roof main block, corrugated iron extension. L-plan: main range left, 2-room long; both wings 2 storey; ground rises substantially behind to road. South facade, away from road: tall ground floor on left, rough ends to stone side walls, later stone between, double-boarded doors, small door cut in right half, heavy door posts and cambered timber lintel, brick arch over. Above brickwork inserted between ends of earlier side walls (about 340mm thick). Two-light shuttered window centre, 2 iron bars per light, cambered brick arch over. Above tiled offset to exposed king-post truss; part rendered brick infill, 2 pairs braces. To right, set back wing, tall window, boarded door, 2 tall windows and further boarded door: two 2-light windows above, whole no higher than ground floor on left. Left return, 2 low blocked openings, second with semi- circular head: later small square window on left. Stonework returns on left to enclose 2 sides courtyard, probably associated with iron works, forming retaining walls. Above 3-light window, leaded lights, on left; behind retaining wall end of single-storey brick lean-to to gable of main section:: small chimney. Interior: tall room through double doors; internal buttresses on left, on right wall thicker at low level, slightly curving face. Rear wall brick-nogged timber-framing, curved in plan, of later date than stonework. Plaster ceiling. In right wall a large, semi-circular headed opening from extension, gives onto rear room: partly blocked by timber-framed wall noted above. Rear room, a small window each side wall, late alteration: square iron grille in gable, now blocked: low, brick barrel vault. Above, access only from outside at rear, up stone steps to quarter landing, 2 rooms, rear brick paved, both lofted, plastered ceiling; 3-bay roof over, trusses as gable, 2 pairs flat purlins, square ridge. Documentary evidence of corn mill of C16 or early C17: converted to iron works by 1645, became part of Foley iron-working partnership in 1658, apparently ceased working by mid C18. Rudder implies iron working ceased by about 1730, not 1778 as noted in previous listing. Evidence difficult to interpret, but main range appears to have extended originally further to south: king-post trusses probably early C18. Low wing on right much altered in late C19. Important remains of pre-Industrial Revolution ironworks, outlier of Forest of Dean industrial area. Forms group with farmhouse and former charcoal barn (q.v.). (S. Rudder, A New History of Gloucestershire, 1779; R.A. Stiles, Elmbridge Furnace, Oxenhall, in Gloucestershire Historical Studies, Vol. V, 1972.)

Listing NGR: SO7192426451

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

125730

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Rudder, S, A New History of Gloucestershire, (1779)
Stiles, R A, Gloucestershire Historical Studies in Elmbridge Furnace Oxenhall, Vol. 5, (1972)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.