Dol Clettwr

Dol Clettwr is a Grade II listed farmhouse comprising a two-storey L-plan main range running north-south with a nineteenth-century south-west wing. The building retains evidence of sub-medieval origins, although it has been substantially altered and repaired, notably following a fire in 1996.

The east-facing front, cement rendered and renewed after the fire, presents a three-window range to the left of the main chimney stack. The windows consist of 6-pane sashes above and 4-pane sashes below, with the upper wall rebuilt following fire damage. A central door sits in a plain raised surround; the plank door, possibly eighteenth century, features cover strips and a 2-pane overlight. The surround records alterations in 1953 and 1996. To the right of the main chimney is a small 4-pane window sitting above a tiny square opening that formerly lit a winding stair. Beyond this is an added one-window range with a 6-pane sash over a 4-pane sash. The north end carries a whitewashed rubble lean-to with corrugated iron roof and an upper-floor window with a brick head.

Stone chimneys include a stack at the south end and a large square stack on the ridge at the original north end. Slate roofs have been renewed.

The rear west wall is whitewashed rubble. A door to the left of external stone stairs provides access to a loft door, both serving the added north-end section. A 4-pane horned sash and a further door with a wide 4-pane altered window above sit to the right of the stairs, serving the main part. The rear south-west wing features a yellow-brick west end stack and yellow-brick window frames to 4-pane sashes: two in the west end wall and two in the south side, one above the other, with the upper breaking the eaves under a renewed gable. The broad south end of the main range displays a nineteenth-century buttress left of centre. Rubble stone to the left of this buttress appears continuous with the rear wing and incorporates a late nineteenth-century 4-pane sash on each floor, possibly rebuilt when the wing was constructed. To the right of the buttress, the wall carries twentieth-century render and a small 4-pane loft window, with a rendered buttress beyond.

The ancient nucleus consists of a storeyed, end-chimney, direct-entry sub-medieval house. Evidence of its early character survives in the form of ceiling beams, an exceptionally massive bressumer over the hall fireplace, and a complete pre-glazing wooden window with diagonal mullions, now displaced from its original position. The roof structure comprised two pairs of upper crucks rising from ground-floor ceiling level; these were severely damaged in the 1996 fire, though the bases of the burnt trusses have been preserved. A curved opening alone survives from the original winding stone fireplace-stair. Partitions may incorporate early post and panel structure.

The principal surviving early rooms flank the entrance passage. The north room contains a deep fireplace with an exceptionally massive oak lintel and a cupboard to the right with a reeded surround of circa 1800. Two chamfered ceiling beams and square joists are present. A six-panel door with sunk panels and reeded surround dates to circa 1800. The entrance passage has joists across and a panelled partition. A hall arch with circa 1800 reeded pilasters features an elliptical arch and keystone. The south end room has a similar reeded-surround door, two massive beams and joists—one jotted for a former partition—and a small fireplace at the south end with a possibly inserted heavy stone lintel and stone jambs. A small oak beam sits in the wall above. A dado rail with early nineteenth-century panelled cupboards above and below either side of the fireplace features arched heads on the upper cupboards. A reeded surround frames a window.

The first floor was substantially rebuilt following the fire, though the bases of the burnt upper cruck trusses have been preserved. A plank partition in one bedroom may date to the early nineteenth century. The loft contains a south end window through the chimney and a massive north end chimneybreast. Evidence of the former winding stair appears in the north wall adjacent to the chimneybreast. The passage occupying the stair site, now open through to the north end added room, formerly contained the diamond-mullioned oak unglazed window, now gone.

The rear wing displays nineteenth-century detail.