Pwlliwrch

Pwlliwrch is a Grade II* listed building comprising a long 2-storey range of a house with a former outbuilding adjoining to the right, which incorporates part of the original dwelling. The building is constructed of limewashed shaley rubble under slate roofs, with the ridge-height of the former outbuilding slightly lower than the main house. A stone stack rises to the right of the house.

The house is a 2-unit dwelling with a parlour added to the west end at a later date. The main entrance has a lobby to the right of the house with a boarded door under a timber lintel. Most windows are 2-light wooden casements with small panes under timber lintels; some are said to be mid to late 20th century replacements of larger 1930s windows. The house has 2 windows to the left of the entrance. The upper storey has 3 windows beneath the eaves, the right-hand one narrower with quarry glazing. The added parlour to the left features large quoins and a ground floor casement window. The rear of the house has a 6-pane window to the left in a splayed opening with a slate-hung timber lintel. To the right is a possible blocked doorway with timber lintel, beyond which is a shallow 2-light casement. The upper storey rear has 3 by 2-light iron-glazed windows, the right-hand one smaller. The added parlour has a 2-light wooden casement at ground floor and a small pre-glazing window with 2 chamfered timber mullions in the basement storey. The west gable end was rebuilt in the 20th century with a boarded door to the left and a large wooden window to the right. The upper storey is slightly jettied, slate-hung, and contains a wide wooden window.

The former outbuilding has 3 casement windows to the upper storey. The ground floor openings are altered: the former cart-shed bay at the right end has a large timber lintel but has been infilled with a door and 3-light casement. To its left are 2 inserted casement windows, beyond which is a blocked doorway with long timber lintel, infilled with a 2-light window to the former outer room. The blocked doorway suggests this room may have had service or agricultural use at some time. An external stone staircase to the east gable end, now denuded, leads to a planked door; a 2-light casement window stands to the right at ground floor level. The rear of the former outbuilding has a 2-light casement at ground floor offset to the right, a tiny iron-glazed window to the upper left, and a 9-pane iron window towards the upper right.

Interior

The lobby inside the front entrance has a boarded door to the left leading into the hall. A large stone fireplace with substantial timber lintel stands here, with brickwork to its rear. The ceiling features 2 chamfered spine beams and stop-chamfered joists. A post-and-panel partition opposite the fireplace at the dais end is thought to be 17th century in its current form. It contains doorways in each side with shallow segmental heads, leading into the 2 inner rooms. These are divided axially by a box-framed partition on a high plinth, with a small room to the south side and a staircase passage with flagstone floor to the north side. A winding wooden staircase, probably 17th century, rises to the rear wall, with a straight stair leading down to the basement beneath the added parlour. The pre-glazing window in the basement has a boarded hatch. Beyond the inner rooms, the former parlour is now a modernised kitchen containing the original west gable end of the building. The cruck truss is overlaid with box panelling, and there is a small window to the right of the upper storey with diamond quarry glazing. To the right of the lobby entrance, a door leads into a heated outer room containing a fireplace with timber lintel and brick grate backing onto the hall fireplace; the ceiling is modernised.

The upper storey retains good cruck trusses. The second truss from the east, above the hall fireplace, is an arched-brace truss with King-post above the collar. Beneath the truss is an inserted first floor fireplace with long timber lintel, whilst a doorway to the right cuts through one of the cruck blades and leads into a further bedroom. The second truss from the west retains a collar, the King-post probably obscured by plaster. The original west end truss, now visible in the kitchen, is also of this form. The east end of the house was incorporated into an outbuilding, and the position of the original east end truss is unclear; a stone partition now divides the outer room from the former outbuilding.

The former outbuilding, later converted for domestic use, is 2-bay and divided by a pegged tie-beam truss with collar and struts. There are 2 upstairs rooms reached by a straight timber staircase to the east end.