Barn, Cowhouse And Pigsty Range Approximately 20 Metres North East Of Pentre-Isaf

Barn, Cowhouse and Pigsty Range approximately 20 metres north east of Pentre-Isaf

An L-plan barn, cowhouse and granary range, probably built between the mid 18th century and mid 19th century, with a detached pigsty range to the south. The buildings are located in the Oswestry Rural area.

The L-plan range forms the north and part of the east side of Pentre Isaf's farmyard. Built mainly of uncoursed limestone rubble with slate roofs, the complex comprises several phases of construction. The earliest element is a short north-south stone building, latterly used as a cow house, positioned at the angle where the two ranges meet. This retains wooden 19th-century cowstalls.

The north range was added to this core building. Its original function as a barn is evident from a tall double door in its north side and ventilation slits to the east. First-floor loading hatches on the south side appear to be original, whereas larger, irregular hatches on the north side probably date from 19th-century adaptation to a cowhouse use, as do three doors on the south side, with the central door raised well above modern yard level. The east wall is timber-framed and weatherboarded. The roof features raking struts from the tie beam and twin purlins. Inside are cowstalls and a 20th-century inserted loft floor.

Attached to the west end of the barn, and therefore slightly later, is a granary approached by external stairs with a stable below. The upper part of its south wall, probably originally timber-framed, was bricked up in the 19th century. It retains its plastered first-floor grain storage space but shows no evidence of storage bins. To the east of the barn, a lower stone and timber-framed range stands in line, followed by another even lower structure clad in corrugated tin. These are later than the barn; in the mid 20th century the former housed an engine (now missing) for barn machinery. A mid 20th-century brick outbuilding abuts the south side of the barn.

The east range was a southward extension, probably built in the early to mid 19th century. Slightly lower than the adjacent building, it is again constructed of limestone rubble with a slate roof and features five doors opening into the yard and ventilation slits to the first floor. It has a king post roof. Its interior is now entirely open and fitted out as a 20th-century milking parlour. Stone outshuts lie to the east. Both ranges have brick-detailed pigeon nesting holes on the yard side.

The three pigsties (formerly four) form a single two-storey stone, slate-roofed range functioning as a long hen house over ground-floor pigsties, with stone yards to the front entered through gates with sturdy quarried stone gateposts. The yards have been covered with an asbestos-covered roof. Attached to the west is a stone cartshed.

The associated farmhouse (separately listed) is a substantial medieval hall house. A datestone in the west gable end of the barn was previously read as 1867, although it is unclear what work this date refers to. The name Pentre-Isaf translates as "Lower Homestead", in distinction from the nearby Pentre Uchaf meaning "Upper Homestead".