River Wye Booksellers is a Grade II listed building in the Brecon Beacons National Park local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 1 February 1988. Bookstore.

River Wye Booksellers

WRENN ID
silent-obsidian-elm
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Brecon Beacons National Park
Constituency
Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP: David Chadwick (LD)
Country
Wales
Date first listed
1 February 1988
Type
Bookstore
Address
River Wye Booksellers, 14 High Town, Hay, Powys
OS grid reference
SO 228 423
Coordinates
52.07429, -3.12638
Source
Cadw listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

River Wye Booksellers is a 17th-century timber-framed building that was originally jettied and has undergone later alterations. It consists of a pair of two-storey, gable-ended ranges, with an additional range attached to the rear that runs parallel to the street. The building features slate roofs and brick chimney stacks.

No 13 has broad eaves, exposed studding on the front gable, and a carved timber bracket at the right corner. The main posts thicken significantly below the tie beam. There is a blocked timber mullioned attic window above a heightened first-floor casement window. The shop front is modern, with small pane glazing, built out under the jetty and curving around the corner, featuring double doors and a rubble plinth. There is a small pane casement window on the right end above the return of the shop front, and an advanced rendered stone gable end with a chimney breast beyond.

No 14 has a roughcast front with a first-floor sash window that includes marginal glazing bars, flanked by plate glass shop windows on either side of the central entrance. The roughcast left side also features a similar shop window.

Inside No 13, the levels vary, and there are plain beams. The ground floor of No 14 is open to the rear, showcasing chamfered main beams and simple pegged trusses with double collars.

Local climate

River Wye Booksellers receives an average of 900 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 67% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 54% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 52 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 29 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • No related consent applications matched
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Ye Olde Curiosity Shop Grade II 5 m
  2. Hay & Cusop War Memorial Grade II 23 m
  3. Section of the Boundry Wall to Hay Castle Grade II 28 m
  4. F.H. Sunderland & Co Grade II 29 m
  5. Mayall Grade II 32 m
  6. Hay Prints Grade II 37 m
  7. Crown House including Gemini Grade II 42 m
  8. Hay Castle Grade I 45 m
  9. R.M. Jones, Chemist Grade II 49 m
  10. The Pin Up Shop Grade II 51 m