Barn to west of Pentrebane Farmhouse

Cadw's description

Location

Approached off the road to Pentrebane and about 1000m north of St Fagans village.

History

This barn, which was only partly seen at resurvey, is difficult to date because its exterior is so obscured by later buildings and its interior by hay. It is possibly early/mid C18, then heightened in the mid C19 and given a new roof and the obscuring additional buildings. The barn is in two sections, and it may be that one is earlier than the other, but this could not be confirmed at resurvey.

Exterior

Barn of lofty dimensions with rubblestone walls and a roof with modern external cladding. Two waggon entries in the form of short gabled wings in each long elevation. Tall ventilators near ground level and small ones above, near eaves, with two sets between each waggon entry and outer angle of barn and with three sets in the middle part of each long wall. Waggon entry wings have walls of stone with semi-elliptical brick arches with stone pilasters and caps at entrances from yard, the arches surmounted by blind circular lunette of brick with a stone voussoir at each angle at 90°. It is these waggon entry features which now suggest the early C18 most strongly as the date of construction for the barn. There are tall segmental headed doorways of brick in the long walls of the barn at the points of division between waggon entries and the barn. One-storey outbuildings have been built at right angles against the east long wall of the barn; at the south end, to the south of the southern waggon entry there is an outshut with semi-circular headed brick arches, the southern wall of the outshut rising and joining the southern wall of another similar outshut. There is a further similar outshut against the middle part of the western long elevation of the barn.
South gable with three tiers of slit vents and with lean-to sheds added on either side.

Interior

The barn was filled with hay at the southern end at the time of resurvey and it was impossible to count the bays, but it has probably thirteen or fourteen. The five bays to the north of the northern entry were empty. This part showed mechanically sawn king-post trusses and the remains of a tallet over a stable. The roof can clearly seen to have been placed on specially heightened walls, indicating a mid C19 change. Stone paved threshing floor in the opposed opening.

Reason for designation

Included as a very large and fine barn of the C18 and mid C19.