7641

 

II  

Designated  

31/01/1953  

02/03/2004  

Bodwen  

 

Powys  

Llansantffraid  

 

Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain village  

322021  

320286  

 

Near west end of the main street of the village, about 50 m east of the Lion Hotel. Garden at left and small hedged and fenced garden at front.  

Domestic  

 

A timber-framed small farmhouse of c.1600, lying east/west parallel to and at the north side of the village road. The unit to the west (now central to the house) appears to have been subdivided into a small hall and cross passage. A structurally separate second house was later added at the west end in the manner of a crosswing to the original part. The latter part was of 1½ storeys from the start. A loft storey was also added to the original part, probably in piecemeal fashion, as each of the three main units of the house has its own staircase. Later additions comprise a timber-framed lean-to unit at left and a small storage barn and workshop at right. Bodwen was noted in 1838 as a homestead (house, fold and garden) tenanted by John Tannat, owned by John Bill Pryse esq. In the C20 the house was occupied as two dwellings, Bodwen and Nythfa, but is now occupied as one again.  

A three-unit timber framed house consisting, as seen from the street, of a 1½-storey gabled unit to the left and two 1½ storey units to the right, plus a timber-framed lean-to at the left end, and a full-height brick barn and a corrugated steel shed at the right end. The timber framing is mostly brick-nogged and is painted black and white at the front, but much of the rear timber framing has not been painted. The topmost panelling of the framing of the original part of the house is in lighter timber. Slate roof with tile ridges; two brick mid-chimneys. The fenestration generally respects the timber framing. The gabled unit at left has a small-pane window above and below and a former door position at left. The middle unit has two small pane dormer windows aligned with latticed windows below, and a boarded door under a small canopy. The right unit has garage doors.  

The house retains much of its internal timber framing, including simply chamfered main beams and minimal floor joists. There is a brick bread oven of large size built into the north-west of the east chimney and projecting into the other room. Pitched stone paving in the east part of the central unit, including marks of a possible well.  

Listed as two good minor sub-mediaeval timber-framed houses in the historic nucleus of the village of Llansantffraid, including framing at rear which has escaped subjection to the C19 enthusiasm for black and white painting.