Rhiew House

Rhiew House is a timber-framed building forming part of a terrace. The cross-wing at the south-east end is the principal feature. It has a slate roof and a jettied gable facing the street, largely rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century. The street elevation includes a doorway to the left and a 3-light casement window (renewed) alongside it. A rectangular oriel window projects from the jettied gable, which is decorated with splat posts below the oriel and flanking quatrefoil panels. The main structure is built with a king-post over a collar with tension braces, enriched with scallop-work, and fretted bargeboards with a finial. The return elevation is framed in small panels with plastered infill, and is probably substantially original. This elevation is divided into 2 principal bays by a full-height central post with a continuous middle rail to either side. There is an axial brick stack with octagonal shafts, typical of the Vaynor Estate. Windows have been inserted.

A short range parallel to the street probably dates from the same period as the cross-wing, though it was heavily restored by the Vaynor Estate. It comprises 2 bays originally timber-framed; the lower storey was reconstructed in brick (painted to imitate timber framing) probably in the mid-nineteenth century. The jettied upper storey retains some structural timberwork but is mostly a nineteenth-century remodelling. There are 2 wide steep dormer gables, each with a 2-light wood mullioned and transomed window and fretted bargeboards with finials. The enriched timberwork is of nineteenth-century date. The lower storey has a central battened plank doorway and flanking 2-light windows in chamfered brick architraves.

The central section of the terrace is a former malthouse range, brick-built and probably eighteenth-century in origin, though heavily restored by the Vaynor Estate. The brickwork is painted to imitate timber framing, echoing decorative details in the short range. It comprises a 7-window range with 4 dormers with mullioned and transomed windows (former loft openings of the malthouse) alternating with 2-light casement windows in chamfered architraves. The ground floor has 4 doorways with flanking 2-light casement windows (some mullioned and transomed) in chamfered architraves.

Rhiew Cottage and No 5 form the advanced (western) end of the terrace. They are probably originally seventeenth-century but were remodelled in the later nineteenth century. Originally timber-framed, they were raised in height and refronted in painted brick. The roof is slate. Box framing is exposed in the gable end, showing the original roof line clearly. Framing is in small vertical panels either side of a middle rail, with a roof truss comprising a collar with short studs. A central timber gabled porch contains a battened plank doorway and a flanking 2-light casement window, with a canopy hood typical of the Vaynor Estate to its left. A similar casement window is set in the apex of the gable. The later roofline has fretted bargeboards with a finial. The return elevation is brick, a 2-storey 4-window range with 2 battened plank doorways and metal casement windows of 2 and 3-lights (with transoms to the lower windows) in chamfered architraves. There is a coped gable with moulded kneeler to the right, and a brick stack of Vaynor Estate type. An axial stack appears to be earlier.