T-shaped Agricultural Complex at Plas-y-Ward

This agricultural complex comprises three ranges joined at a corner, forming a rough T-shape. The buildings are predominantly constructed of whitened rubble, with a later range to the rear built without whitening and a whitened brick upper storey to the main block. All ranges have slate roofs.

The cart house, the long section of the “T”, features nine bays with plain brick pillars dividing eight depressed-arched cart openings on the ground floor. The upper floor has boarded and framed windows corresponding to each cart bay, with an entrance to the left, accessed by an external stone staircase. A stone-coped parapet runs along the top, and there is a segmentally-arched loading bay to the east gable end.

A rectangular addition, dating from the second quarter or middle of the 19th century, adjoins the cart house to the rear, forming the shorter arm of the “T”. This addition is built of roughly-coursed limestone and has a segmentally-arched open entrance on the west side, along with a two-light open window under the eaves to the upper storey and a further segmentally-arched window on the upper north gable.

Adjoining the corner of the cart house’s west gable end at a right angle to the south is a stable and byre range. This has three part-boarded stable entrances on the ground floor and two square part-boarded openings on the upper floor, which shares the cart house’s external staircase. The upper entrance has a pegged wooden frame. Four irregularly placed ventilators are set into this side. A contemporary or near-contemporary extension is set back to the left and continues the roofline of the main block. This extension has another stable entrance on the right and a wide, modern entrance to its south gable end, with a segmentally-arched loading bay above. The rear (west) elevation of this range has a full-length modern agricultural lean-to addition, and the north gable end has a segmental doorway with a square, framed opening diagonally above.

The cart house incorporates some stopped-chamfered ceiling beams that are likely reused from an earlier building that preceded the current house. Additionally, stopped-chamfered beams have been reused as vertical posts set in front of the brick dividing piers. The stable/byre range was not internally inspected during the survey.