Pentre Cefn Bach

Pentre Cefn Bach

An 18th-century farmhouse incorporating an earlier cruck building, with later modifications.

The building is largely constructed of rubble stone with remains of an earlier timber structure within and a timber roof structure covered in slate. The three-bay farmhouse was originally rectangular in plan and now has a further range to the north-west. Later conservatory extensions have been added to the north and south. In its current configuration the building is single storey with an attic floor.

20th-century conservatory extensions partially conceal the north and south rubble stone elevations. The south elevation contains a central doorway flanked by windows on each side. The north elevation has a central doorway with a wider agricultural doorway to the east, modified to form a window opening, a further window to the west of the doorway, and another at eaves level. A modern porch set against the circa 1840 wing contains an entrance into the upper end. The east elevation contains two window openings. The pitched roof has a rubble stone chimneystack at the west end and a dormer window on the north roof slope, with a rooflight inserted in the southern slope of the lower end.

On the ground floor there is a large inglenook fireplace at the upper, west end of the building. Adjacent to the fireplace in the north wall is a blocked doorway into the circa 1840 extension. In this room are truncated cruck blades with a surviving tie beam and further surviving early timbers. The circa 1840 wing has 19th-century roof timbers with iron fixings. The first floor is divided by exposed roof trusses, with doorways inserted through the tie beams. The roof structure sits on a rubble stone ledge. The west end of the first floor contains the stepped upper structure of the chimney, and this room has oak plank floors.

The building forms part of a group of three historic farmsteads in a small settlement and is a multi-phased structure showing evidence of 17th-century origin. It is an example of a dual-function rural building, housing people at the upper end and livestock at the lower before being converted to solely a dwelling. The building is shown on an early 19th-century field map, with a map of 1843 showing extensions to the north-west and south-east, the latter no longer extant. The building has been extended further to the north and south in the 20th century.