Old house at Bwlch Mawr

Cadw's description

Location

Reached by farm road on the W side of a minor road N of the A44, approximately 1.2km NE of Nantmel. The old house stands within a steel shed on the W side of the modern house.

History

A late-medieval timber-framed hall house converted to a storeyed house in the late C16 or early C17. It was remodelled with a central entrance in the early C18 (a NE window is dated 1712), and a stable was added c1800, which has subsequently been demolished. The house has been uninhabited since 1966 when a new house was built.

Exterior

A 1½-storey house of whitened rubble stone, slate roof and reduced stone stack to the L. The central doorway has an early C20 panelled door with round glazed panel, in an earlier opening. Windows, with glazing mostly missing, are 2-light to the R and 3-light to the L, under wooden lintels. The R-hand window has a date-inscribed jamb. Two raked dormers also have 2-light windows. In the rear are 2 raked dormers, of which the R-hand retains a horizontal-sliding sash window. A C20 window is lower L, enlarged from an earlier opening, and a window to the R is without glazing. On the L side is the roof slope of a former short rear wing, housing a back-kitchen, where a bread oven is exposed.

Interior

Parts of 2 cruck trusses are visible, one inside the house which is mostly concealed, the other a part of a truss embedded in the gable end when the fireplace was built. The sub-medieval hall, on the R side of the entrance, has a large fireplace with chamfered stone jambs and moulded timber lintel.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding its deteriorating condition, as a late medieval house with evidence of changes over subsequent centuries, retaining definite vernacular character and detail.