History

The house occupies one of the best positions in the 'wooden village' created by the Mathias family on the burrows and dunes of Freshwater East. The village is an example of development controlled by covenants and not by planning. Site deeds and correspondence preserved from the 1890s onward show that the Mathias agents and prospective occupiers agreed plot positions informally, and that occupiers were required to build, within a certain time, a house of a certain minimum value and to insure it, with a covenant to rebuild if the property came to be seriously damaged or destroyed. The oldest houses built under this system have, however, not survived. Otherwise there has been constant modernisation. The development, in which Wavecrest and its sitting is a fine example, has historical interest as one of the last free developments before the general imposition of Town and Country Planning under the 1932 Act, and has the characteristic 'squatter' form of islands of occupation in a landscape of waste.

Wavecrest is believed to be early because of its prime location in the development. The main development appears to have occurred in the 1920s, and the village came to be primarily one of second-homes owned by the more affluent citizens of Pembroke and Pembroke Dock. (The oldest surviving house on the burrows, The Elms, was a C19 coastguard's station and is therefore not representative of the development.) The bungalows were very popular for their 'beautiful views of the bay and its nearby headlands' and 'greatly in request during the holiday months'.

Exterior

Wavecrest is timber-framed, with corrugated sheeting painted white and red, and consists of a main E/W range facing S to the bay, with small loft windows in each gable. Ornamental bargeboards with turned finials. A small front extension with mullioned and transomed windows and low-pitched roof. Sheds at rear with informal linking roofs. Standard casement windows. A short brick chimney stack.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as the finest known, and representative example of the main phase of development which has not undergone excessive modifications and which has thus retained its character. "Wavecrest" is believed to be the best - preserved example of this building type on the Dyfed coast.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29494975

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  For the Record