80814

 

II  

Designated  

31/03/2003  

31/03/2003  

Cefn Pentre  

 

Powys  

Meifod  

 

Meifod  

316882  

311234  

 

Three km approx SE of the village of Meifod, approached from a narrow lane which runs NW of the B4392, which it leaves half a km NE of Maesmawr Hall.  

Agriculture and Subsistence  

 

House with farm-building in line, forming the nucleus of a former farmstead. Dwelling to the left, farm-range (a lofted cow house) to the right. Structural evidence suggests that the two were always an integral build, though a greater separation was achieved when the house was raised in height and a full upper storey created over part of its length. A cross-passage behind the main living room (hall) stack, (remains of a post-and-panel partition recently discovered), dividing domestic from agricultural parts of the building, suggests origins as a long-house or long-house derivative. Probably C16, the house originally single storeyed with loft, raised in height in at least one phase of alteration, perhaps first in the C17, then in the early C19 (by raising the front wall): left-hand bay is a later addition in rubble, this, with the brickwork exposed in gables and stacks, and the detail of the façade, suggests C19 remodelling, but much of the earlier structure remains intact.  

House and farm-building range; largely timber framed: box framing in square panels with some tension bracing exposed to the rear; front façade of house is rendered; barn has weather-board cladding. Some brickwork associated with C19 remodelling and repair visible in gable ends of house and farm-range. Slate roofs throughout, with brick end-wall stacks to house. House is a 3-window range with small-paned casements (the ground-floor concealed by modern lean-to over left-hand bays), with doorway in modern porch against right-hand gable stack. A further doorway in what reads externally as the left-hand bay of the farm-range in fact leads to a wide passage which forms part of the dwelling. Rear elevation reveals two phases of timber framing, both with painted brick panel infill: the lower section, which continues across the farm-range, is two panels high; above the original wall-plate is a further two panels, with tension bracing at angles. Small-paned windows at irregular heights. Rubble construction of added end bay exposed at rear. Adjoining farm-range is also square panelled framing (2 panels high), exposed and with brick infill to rear; front wall is clad in weather-boarding, and has higher eaves line, indicating the later raising of the front wall. 2 boarded and split doors to ground floor, (and 2 inserted windows); 3 shuttered openings to left. Rubble lean-to against right-hand gable end, with plank door and small window.  

The original house comprises 2 units, with present entrance against stack at the gable end; single-storeyed bay to the right of the entrance (under the same roof line as the farm range) appears to have been a cross-passage originally (shaped doorhead exposed in rear wall), though there is evidence of division into two rooms at some time (doorways either side of stack); some chamfered joists. The main room has 2 stop-chamfered longitudinal beams, large stack with chamfered arched bressumer, and the remains of a post and panel partition with evidence for two doorways into inner unit; nicely chamfered detailing to the jambs of doorways, and the heads of each panel. The inner unit was formerly divided into two by a longitudinal partition, with chamfered joists in the front section only. Blocked doorway to rear of partition confirms this sub-division. Inserted staircase alongside partition. First floor reveals evidence for successive lifts in timber-frame and roofline, and original queen post and collar trusses exposed in gable and partition walls. Early wattle and daub infill survives in part. Inside the farm-range, the framed structure is visible in its entirety and comprises 3 bays in which the framing is substantially intact, albeit one gable wall has been rebuilt in brick. Queen post and collar strut trusses flank a fine tie-beam truss with crossed ("scissor") braces apparently originally marking an internal subdivision; the roof appears to have been raised at an early date in its front pitch, with pegged spurs to secondary rafters. The present upper floor is inserted, and the ground floor level has been lowered.  

Listed as a sub-medieval house with integral farm-range, retaining its original timber-framed structure and layout substantially intact, encapsulated within later alterations. A good, well-preserved example of regional traditions of planning and construction.