History

Erected probably by Roger Williams, one of the partners in Caerphilly blast furnace, c1690. It consisted
of a hall with lateral fireplace flanked by a parlour and kitchen, and with a stair in a projection at the rear.
After 1707 it became 2 dwellings, and has remained so. The cottage is on the left side. At the time of inspection the right side was vacant but was formerly used as a workshop by the local Mountain Ranger Centre. Following a fire in 2007 the Cottage was largely rebuilt but retains its earlier appearance and layout.

Exterior

Two-storey house of 5 unequal bays (the 3 central bays being the hall, the outer bays the parlour and
kitchen), with integral outshuts and gabled projection to the rear. Roughcast walls painted white. Slate
roof with brick stack to R, external stack to L and big stepped stack offset to R side behind. The doorway
is centrally placed inside a porch with a hipped stone-tile roof (lost during the fire), and has a segmental head and a half-lit boarded door. The windows to the Mountain Ranger Centre (to the right) are late C19 sashes in original openings and have contemporary brick sills. The R gable end has a small stair light to L and an inserted boarded door to R. The rear is dominated by the full-height gabled stair projection, which has late C19 3-light casements, to L of which is the large stack to the hall fireplace. The Cottage (to left) has been almost entirely rebuilt 2008-09 retaining the appearance and layout of the earlier building.

Interior

Interior of cottage entirely rebuilt following fire, c2008-9. Interior of Mountain Ranger Centre retains a stone fireplace stair to the right of the gable fireplace with a recess at mid height.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II, notwithstanding the reconstruction of Gwaun-y-bara Cottage, for special architectural interest as retaining integrity as a good example for this area of the development of the symmetrical front and centralised planning in domestic architecture in the late seventeenth century.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living