Former Barn and Cowhouse Ranges Adjoining Old Gwernyfed House is a Grade II listed building in the Powys local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 14 November 1988. Barn, cowhouse. 7 related planning applications.

Former Barn and Cowhouse Ranges Adjoining Old Gwernyfed House

WRENN ID
errant-minaret-scarlet
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Powys
Constituency
Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP: David Chadwick (LD)
Country
Wales
Date first listed
14 November 1988
Type
Barn, cowhouse
Address
Former Barn and Cowhouse Ranges Adjoining Old Gwernyfed House, LD3 0SU
OS grid reference
SO 183 365
Coordinates
52.02118, -3.19177
Source
Cadw listing

Also on this page: EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The site includes a group of former farm buildings adjoining Old Gwernyfed House. These comprise a late 18th-century coachhouse range, a long barn range, a 19th-century cowhouse, and a smaller 7-bay range.

The NW coachhouse, converted to farm buildings and a cowhouse in the 19th or early 20th century, has six bays, with a blocked elliptical archway. Inside, there are stalls and a feed walk, and the roof truss features principal rafters resting on a wavy brace to the tie, which sits on a wall plate.

The long barn range extends from the coachhouse in a NW to SE direction. It is separated by a four-bay structure supported on cast iron columns, constructed after 1905. This connects to a probable 18th-century, seven-bay barn with two cartways and a floored interior. Low-set ventilation slots are present, and the tie beam has raking queen struts and a morticed collar supporting three tiers of purlins. Three vents at the ends suggest it was initially a free-standing building. Beneath the floor, a late 19th-century water wheel, installed by the Llanidloes Foundry in 1897, is housed within an artificial leet fed by the Felindre brook. This all-iron overshot/breast-shot wheel is 3.2 meters in diameter and drives a spur wheel connected to a small cog and a high-speed shaft for power transmission. The mill was primarily used for preparing animal feed, which was processed in the loft. The water outlet flows under the front garden of Old Gwernyfed to a pond.

The barn is now attached to a 19th-century, five-bay cowhouse constructed with 75cm square brick piers towards the yard, with a stone rear wall and two feed drops from a hay store located above.

The range fronting the road, attached to the cowhouse at the SW end, is probably early 19th century and has been altered since. It features four openings with brick dressings and timber lintels on the upper level. Three pairs of pitching doors rise to a raked roof. Planked doors with ventilation slots are present at the east end. On the north side, windows have splayed reveals, vented lower sections, four upper glazed panes, and open pitching holes. Battened and planked doors are similarly decorated. The trusses incorporate tie beams and principal rafters with long raking struts, originally trenched for three tiers of purlins. The internal floor has been removed.

The smaller range on the NE side of the farmyard is likely late 18th century, single storey, and originally had a stone slate roof, now replaced with asbestos sheeting on the end bay. The two NW bays form pens accessed from the gable end, and the remainder served as a cowhouse. The trusses display tie beams and cambered collars tenoned to the principal rafters, with raking struts, and are chisel marked.

Local climate

Former Barn and Cowhouse Ranges Adjoining Old Gwernyfed House sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,030 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 82% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 68% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 52 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 29 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 7 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Nearby listed buildings

  1. North Tower in inner front garden, with the garden boundary wall leading to the NE wing of the house Grade II* 33 m
  2. Gatepiers to inner court in front of Old Gwernyfed with garden walls on each side Grade II* 37 m
  3. Boundary walls, gatepiers and gate to forecourt and driveway at Old Gwernyfed Grade II 51 m
  4. South tower in the inner front garden with garden wall running to SW ring of the house Grade II* 53 m
  5. Old Gwernyfed Grade I 74 m
  6. Garden gatepiers to a cross terrace in the formal W gardens at Old Gwernyfed Grade II* 138 m
  7. Gwernyfed High School Grade II* 1.1 km
  8. Front railed screen and gate piers at Gwernyfed High School Grade II 1.1 km
  9. Stable Block at Gwernyfed High School Grade II* 1.1 km
  10. Kitchen garden walls, gatepiers and gates at Gwernyfed High School Grade II 1.2 km