19049

 

II  

Designated  

13/11/1997  

13/11/1997  

Wern Tarw and attached Cowhouse  

 

Bridgend  

Coychurch Higher  

 

Wern Tarw  

296058  

184477  

 

Located S of a lane which runs E - W along the foothills of the Mynydd y Gaer. The house is on a platform site, the rear being cut into the hillside. Wern Tarw Barn is to the N.  

Agriculture and Subsistence  

 

The W unit of the house is C17 and represents the outer room of a hearth-passage house. The hall to the E was demolished and replaced in the early - mid C19 by a new range. The roof was raised at the same time. A cowhouse with hay loft adjoins the W side of the house and the interior is said to bear a date of 1763.  

A long 4-window range of rubble masonry under a slate roof with 2 end stacks and a ridge stack. The W unit is the earliest part of the house and is constructed of walls c 1.5m thick. It would have constituted part of a one and a half storey building. The W gable stack, rebuilt in blue brick, is in its original position. There is a simple planked door to the front (S), at the E end of the C17 unit, which opens into a passage. To its L is a large raked buttress, the top of which supports a flat timber canopy which acts as a porch. To the L of the buttress is a deeply recessed 3-light wooden window with ovolo mouldings and very small panes. It is slightly skewed relative to the opening which has a timber lintel. The C19 remodelling involved the addition of a symmetrical 3-window range to the E and the raising of the roofline to form 2 storeys. A 2-light wooden casement with small panes was inserted above and partially into the C17 unit at first-floor level. The range to the E has a centrally-placed panelled door and a blind window above, both flanked by 12-pane sash windows with sills but no lintels. The E gable end of the house has no openings. The W gable end has no openings above the level of the cowhouse. The rear has been partially cut into the hillside. There is an outshut to the rear of the C17 unit and one blocked opening is visible. There are single storey lean-tos to the rear of the C19 range; that to the E has a brick stack in its NE corner. The cowhouse is of masonry rubble under a corrugated iron roof. It has a 4-door front, although there may have been a 5th door to the W where the wall has collapsed. The doors are planked where they survive. There is a centrally-placed casement window with a brick sill but no glass. In the attic is a loft opening at the E end and a smaller opening towards the centre. Joints in the masonry suggest that the building was raised to form the loft and was extended to the E. This is further suggested by the E doorway which has a flat head with voussoirs, unlike the others which have simple wooden lintels. Thus the cowhouse may originally have been a free-standing single-storey building with 3 doors. The rear is built into the bank so there is direct access into the hayloft. There are 2 openings, the E one with planked doors, the W one under a brick head.  

No access to interior at time of inspection.  

Listed because of the well preserved fabric of the C17 unit, the C18 cowhouse and the C19 remodelling have resulted in a building which clearly shows the organic development of the traditional Glamorgan farmhouse over the centuries. Group value with the barn to the N.