U-shaped Agricultural Range at Tan-y-graig

U-shaped Agricultural Range at Tan-y-graig

A large U-shaped agricultural complex ranged around a slightly sloping yard that is partly grassed and partly concreted, enclosed by a modern metal fence. The buildings are constructed from local rubble with renewed hipped slate roofs.

The complex comprises a near-symmetrical main range with central cart bays and flanking byre sections, with a continuous hayloft above. The left wing contains a large barn with threshing floor and formerly further cart bays. The right wing originally housed stables, also with a loft above and a covered passage through to the rear.

The primary openings throughout feature segmental arches with recessed, rough-dressed voussoirs, mostly with pegged frames and 20th-century boarded and stable doors.

The main range is entered through large central double doors with three flanking entrances to each side and three evenly spaced loading bays to the first floor. The second entrance from the right is a modern replacement with a modern steel-framed window to its left. Two primary loading bays and an entrance at the right serve the rear, with four modern windows to the ground floor. The barn wing on the left has a tall barn entrance at the centre, with vertical ventilators to the left and a smaller entrance to the far right. Two blocked cart bays to the left include a modern steel-framed window insertion in the first and a modern entrance in the second. The first floor has two evenly spaced loading bays. To the rear of this range stands a storeyed gabled porch with segmental arched entrance and flagged through passage, flanking vent slits, and a gable end featuring a tall opening with a circa 1900 part-glazed entrance and boarded section above.

The right stable range has three entrances to the left, with the one closest to the centre providing access to the passage. A modern window and an original small-pane fixed window (formerly 9-pane, now 8-pane) are located to the right. The front-facing gable displays a loading bay at the centre with an inset slate plaque above bearing the incised date 1802 and the initials 'R. C.' To the left of the gable end is a low square rubble projection. The rear features a small square boarded opening under the eaves to the left, a boarded entrance to the right, a tall wide cart bay with boarding under the eaves and a small boarded opening to the upper right, followed by a boarded entrance with a blocked entrance immediately beyond, and finally a loading bay with boarded opening.

Adjacent to the right wing at right angles to the north-east is a low four-bay open wood shed with a rubble rear wall (perhaps contemporary with the main range) and renewed piers of breeze-block construction, topped with a slate roof. The rear contains a large plain opening with a 19th-century nine-pane sash window to the right.

Opposite the complex stands a rubble-revetted bank with a large semi-circular recess and water outlet forming a water trough.

Internally, the main central section features a central bay with rubble half-walls and three-bay flanking sections, with primary queen-post roof trusses and roughly chamfered purlins. The barn wing has a slate-flagged floor and three-bay roof (with replaced purlins), with the end bay separated from the remainder by rubble walls and a wide central full-height opening. The floor is part-cobbled. The former stable section contains 20th-century cattle stalls, while the centre features a cobbled passage with pine stall gate and boarded partition to former loose boxes at the right. The roof structure follows the same pattern as the barn wing.