Former Ogof Weaving Shed

Cadw's description

Location

Set back slightly from the Drefach-Cwmpencraig Road behind a grassy verge, just S of Ogof Cottage.

History

Early C19 cottage-scale early weaving sheds and house, the first phase of woollen cloth manufacture on a modest scale. By 1875, the building was occupied by Benjamin Jones, who was still here in 1911. By 1920, the business had passed to William Jones. It ceased production in 1927.

Exterior

Long building range of limewashed, coursed rubble, single storey, with a corrugated tin sheet roof. According to Anthony Dolwion, originally a small dwelling flanked by woollen workshops, the structure consists of 3 connected sections beneath a single roof line. The long N section covers roughly half of the length of the building. A small 4-pane fixed timber casement is located immediately R of the N angle. Further along, a short section of wall is set back from the rest of the line. R of this section is a matching 4-pane casement, adjoining the L of an entrance comprising paired boarded timber doors. The middle section was the original dwelling, and has a marginal glazed casement window L, and 4-pane casement R flanking a small boarded timber door with a stone step. The R section, marginally higher, has a small 4-pane casement immediately L of a similar pair of boarded timber doors.

Interior

Divided into 2 sections, with the original dwelling flanked by workshops. The L section contains a compressed earthen floor, and the original rough hewn timber roof trusses, pegged at the joints, supports a series of branches used as purlins. Over these rests a fine layer of thin branches supporting a decaying straw thatch roof, concealed externally by the modern corrugated sheets. The centre and R section have been joined internally, with two short lengths of boarded internal wall surviving towards the N side. No thatch survives here. The former central section retains the original roof trusses, but the R section has much later machine-cut roof timbers - replacing the original structure.

Reason for designation

Included as a rare suviving building from an early domestic phase in the development of the woollen industry in this area. Also a rare local example of venacular construction as a single storeyed range retaining the remnants of a traditional thatched roof.