76 And 78, Upper Green Road

A pair of semi-detached houses built around 1700 on the east side of Upper Green Road in Tewin. They are constructed of timber frame, rendered and painted white, with plain tiled gabled roofs. Contemporary single-storey rear outshuts and late 18th-century brick rear extensions survive, also under plain tiled gabled roofs. North and south gable-end extensions were added in 1999 and 2000, constructed of composition blocks clad with weatherboarding under gabled plain tiled roofs; these modern additions are not of special interest.

The two houses share an identical plan rather than mirrored plans, with a central brick stack dividing them. Each has one principal ground-floor room with service rooms in the rear outshuts. Both were enlarged by rear extensions in the late 18th century and by the gable-end additions mentioned above.

The symmetrical west elevation facing the street shows two storeys. The ground floor has two 20th-century two-light casement windows to each house, plus a small single-light top-hung casement. The original doorways were located in the outer bays; the northern door (No. 78) is now blocked, whilst the southern door (No. 76) retains a mid-18th-century flush-framed six-panelled door. The first floor is lit by one two-light 20th-century casement to each house. The central brick stack sits on the front roof slope just off the ridge and carries four chimney pots.

The rear, east, elevation preserves two single-storey outshuts of different depths; that to No. 76 is longer and extends beyond the centre line of the two houses. It features a mid-18th-century four-plank door with a leaded light and a top-hung casement. The outshut to No. 78 has been absorbed into a later single-storey brick extension fitted with 20th-century casements and a timber gabled porch with a half-glazed door and inner plank stable-type door. The corresponding late-18th-century extension to No. 76 has been modernised with an attic room lit by a Velux roof-light.

The timber frame is evident throughout both floors. The ground-floor rooms in both houses contain chamfered bridging beams with tongue stops running east-west. The north and south timber frames in both houses are visible as open screens between the main rooms and the weatherboarded gable-end extensions. No. 76 has a wide open fireplace with early 18th-century brickwork and a plain timber bressumer; the fire opening in No. 78 has been rebuilt. A winder staircase to the east of the central stack in No. 76 displays the middle rail of the circa 1700 framing. The south wall of the bedroom above shows timber framing with straight braces, and the wall plate is prominent on the west wall, extending north into No. 78. End framing at attic level is visible in No. 78.

The manor of Tewin has pre-Conquest origins, though most houses in the village date from the late 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Nos. 76 and 78 stand on the east side of Upper Green Road and were historically associated with Walnut Tree Farm's outbuildings, though the farmhouse itself stood at a distance. The farm buildings, dating from the later 19th century and constructed mainly of red brick, have since been converted into a separate house, No. 74 Upper Green Road, situated immediately behind (north-east) of Nos. 76 and 78. By contrast, the pair retains their original circa 1700 timber-framed construction, making them an increasingly rare survival of the semi-detached timber-framed type once typical of vernacular building practice, and the quality of the surviving timber framing provides important evidence of the craftmanship and building traditions of the period.