Pentre-Sollars

Pentre-Sollars is a farmhouse dating back to the 16th century, with extensions and rebuilding occurring in the 17th century and later in the 19th and 20th centuries. Around 1990, the original single-story structure was raised to become a two-story building. The exterior is rendered, with some areas featuring a Tyrolean finish and colourwash. The roof is covered with asbestos slate. The original core of the building consists of four bays, with a substantial parlour wing added in the 17th century. A lateral stack was added to the rear of the original hall, and bays three and four from the east likely contained an inner room. The north-facing front was altered in the 20th century, specifically with the removal of a large dormer and the construction of a full first floor. Standard 20th-century timber windows are now incorporated. A stable door is positioned opposite the main axial stack in the third bay from the east. The rear parlour features a large, six-light timber mullioned and transomed window in the south gable, a similar five-light window on the east side, and a two-light window with a single diagonal timber bar facing west. A fireplace with a dog-leg stair is located on the west side of the parlour, and there is external access to a cellar beneath the parlour from the east.

The main range originally contained two pairs of full cruck roof timbers in 1961, slip-tenoned together and carrying a diagonal ridge tree, with indications of a third pair. Only the central open truss, with knee braces to the collar, and the base of the closed west cruck couple survive now. Curved wind braces are present in the central bay, along with two tiers of trenched purlins. An inserted fireplace has a heavy timber lintel, now partly underbuilt, displaying signs of rushlight burns and an oven, now covered on the south side. A shaped timber doorhead leads from the inner room to a cross passage with an external door to the west and a stair to the cellar under the parlour. The parlour features a stone lateral fireplace and four cross beams, apparently re-used timbers, displaying continuous grooves on one side and small mortices on the other. A dog-leg stair, constructed of monoxylous treads, is situated beside the parlour stack, leading to a small landing. Two 17th-century plank doors with shaped doorheads are found here; the chamber above the south end of the parlour includes a gable fireplace.

The building has been listed despite recent alterations, due to its retention of unusually good features of a small late medieval farmhouse, alongside a remarkably well-detailed parlour addition.

Reference: Jones, S and Smith J. 'Houses of Breconshire' II (1964), pages 130, figures 21 (plan - incomplete), 26 (sections) and plate XIIIB.