Talgarth Farm

Talgarth Farm is a large timber-framed house of 2 storeys and an attic, built on a stone plinth with a slate roof. The main structure is constructed of close-studded timber-framing with four tiers of close-studding and diagonal braces throughout. The eastern gable end is jettied to each storey, with small panels featuring diagonal quartering and 19th-century barge boards decorated with pierced work. The western gable end was rebuilt in brick during the 19th century and is now slate-hung, with the roof hipped at this end. A large brick chimney stack stands to the right of centre.

The principal front elevation contains four windows across its width. The entrance lobby is positioned right of centre, accessed through a doorway with a triangular timber head and a late 20th-century boarded oak door. The ground-floor windows are 19th-century moulded wooden casements: those flanking the entrance are 4-light with transom and mullions, whilst the far-left window is a 3-light casement with horizontal glazing bars. The first floor carries similar windows, all 4-light except the far-left example which is 3-light. Four gabled dormers light the attic storey; all are timber-framed with slate-hung sides and contain 3-light casements. Two small cellar windows appear to the left.

The jettied eastern gable end commands particular attention. It features moulded bressumers, and both ground and first floors contain central 5-light oriel windows retaining their original 17th-century moulded timber mullions. A 3-light timber-mullioned window rises into the gable above. The 19th-century western gable end has a round-headed stairlight with small-pane glazing.

The rear elevation has a doorway opposite the main chimney stack, containing a late 20th-century half-glazed wooden panelled door. Wooden casement windows of similar date flank this: two 3-light casements to the left and a 4-pane window to the right. The first floor contains corresponding windows aligned above, with an additional 4-pane window positioned above the doorway.

To the right of the house stands a 19th-century service range, consisting of a 2-storey hipped-roofed block, an outshut, and a narrow single-storey projection extending westwards. The main block features windows to each storey beneath segmental brick heads: a 6-over-2-pane horned sash sits above a large 3-light top-hung window. Mainly 20th-century wooden windows appear elsewhere, with a doorway providing access into the single-storey range.

The interior reveals exceptional features. The lobby-entrance contains an exceptionally large chimney breast with back-to-back fireplaces, pierced in the 19th century by a timber staircase which nevertheless left both fireplaces intact. Interior walls are unplastered, exposing fine close-studding throughout.

The former parlour, positioned to the right of the entrance, possesses a ceiling with deeply chamfered, ogee-stopped spine beams and plain joists, the beams supported on decorated corbels. A small 19th-century fireplace with triangular head appears to represent an infill of the original fireplace position. The former hall to the left of the entrance has a similar ceiling featuring ogee-stopped spine beams, with a large brick fireplace retaining a slightly chamfered timber lintel. A close-studded partition wall opposite provides access to a small service room. A 19th-century addition extends to the rear, encompassing the current kitchen.

On the first floor, the room above the parlour has a ceiling with ogee-stopped spine-beam and cross-beam, and retains a good oak floor. A central landing accommodates the staircase rising to the attic storey and a passage along the rear wall leading to a 19th-century back-staircase. The attic storey contains good tie-beam trusses with substantial arched collars and two pairs of large purlins; the western room retains an original doorway.