Circular cow-house at Gwaunclawdd

Cadw's description

Location

About 1km W of Abercraf; to S of A 4067 and River Tawe. Towards end of group of buildings on E side of lane.

History

Circular cow-house, early C19, consisting of a 2-storey inner core for storing and preparing feed flanked by 2 curved lean-tos for stock almost surrounding the inner core except for opposed access passages that allowed hay to be loaded into loft of the core, whence it could be dropped into the base, to be distributed via 4 doorways each side to the feed-passages of the lean-tos. This building type was promoted in the United States and advocated in the agricultural press in Britain (cf Annals of Agriculture 1798 p 502) , but very few were ever built, this apparently the only one in Wales.

Exterior

Cow-house, rubble stone with slate roofs, a two storey inner cylinder with conical roof and 2 lean-tos with sloping roofs, divided by opposed entrances to the inner cylinder. Conical roof has leaded ball finial. Entrance bays have a broad loft door with timber lintel and double boarded doors over narrower ground floor door with stone voussoirs. The encircling lean-tos have blank walls, the end walls splayed into the entrances to centre cylinder, the angles curved. Extensive areas of collapse.

Interior

Central section has cobbled ground floor and loft over. Four cambered-headed doors from centre to outer lean-tos, i.e a total of ten openings all around including the opposed doors. Lean-tos also had cobble floors with drainage channels. Conical roof has radial tie-beams to king-post with raking struts. Lean-tos have tie-beams and rafter roofs.

Reason for designation

Graded at II* as probably the only example of a circular cow-house in Wales, the design illustrating the contemporary interest in improving animal husbandry.