Barn at Meddiant Uchaf including adjoining L-shaped Stable and Cart Block

Cadw's description

Location

Located on an elevated site to the E of a narrow lane running roughly SE from the A 470 at Tal-y-Cafn to join the A 470 again some 2km S.

History

4-bay timber-framed late Medieval building with full cruck trusses, subsequently (probably in the late C16 or early C17) extended westwards by one bay and encased in rubble. Smoke blackening to some of the trusses within suggests the former presence of an open hearth, leading to the assumption that the building originally had a domestic function, probably a house-and-byre. This would have been relegated to full agricultural use when the present (much altered) farmhouse was built in the late C16 or early C17. A second-quarter or mid C19 stable and cart range adjoins to the N.

Exterior

Long barn of whitened rubble on a boulder plinth, with medium-pitched, undulating slate roof. Pegged oak doorcase to near-central entrance on the long S side, with boarded door and exposed timber lintel. Late C19 or C20 lean-to to L; to the R a series of triangular vents with vertical slit-vents above. The N side has 3 recessed boarded doors with exposed timber lintels and 2 modern rubble buttresses between the two western-most; further ventilation slits. Loading bay to E (downhill) gable with further triangular vent beneath.

Adjoining the barn to the N at the w end, and partly enclosing a small yard, is a C19 L-shaped carthouse and stable range. The former is of one storey and has a plain cart opening to the R; the stable block is of two stories and adjoins at right-angles to face the barn; Stable door to the L with window at R and external stone-stepped access to first floor entrance to E gable; brick quoins and segmental voussoirs to openings.

Interior

4-bay primary roof with full-cruck trusses, some with smoke-blackening; pegged collars and tie-beams. The tops of the trusses have been sawn off above the collars; C19 secondary roof structure.

Reason for designation

A rare surviving regional example of a late-medieval cruck-built barn, possibly of domestic origin.