History

Dated 1894. Built as a butcher's shop and house for Edward Hamer; on the site of the former Crown Inn. The business remains within the family. Hamer established a wide reputaion for his Plynlimon mutton and became by royal appointment purveyor of meat to the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria and subsequent members of the Royal Family.

Exterior

A 3-storey, 3-window shop and house, built of red brick with freestone quoins, sill bands, plinth and window dressings. The slate roof has tiled cresting and has red brick end stacks, and another stack to right of centre, each with stock brick neck bands. There is also a stock brick eaves band and dentil cornice. Stone tablets either side of the central first floor window read ‘Plynlimon House AD 1894’ in raised letters and numerals. Windows are 4-pane sashes with architraves and cornices. The window to the former house (now office) R of centre on the ground floor is larger but similar, with a glazing bar removed to the frosted lower sash. A square-headed carriage entry to the L has decorative ironwork panels to top.

The tall and ornate central shop front has a paired entrance with the house, under a dentil cornice carried on paired consoles and panelled pilasters, and a panelled apron below the shop window. The shop front has a large 2-pane sash window with anthemion patterned ironwork ventilation grille above, and a half-glazed shop door. The house has a 6-panel door with fanlight and panelled reveals. Above the shop and the house doorway is cast-iron cresting and a coat of arms (probably added in 1901 after the coronation of Edward VII).

The rear of the building has mainly sash windows, but some with upvc glazing. It has a short, slightly lower rear wing that is integral with the main range. Later, the lower 2-storey office was added, which has an added projecting bay window facing the passage and lighting the office. A lower single-storey extension attached to this is later still, which is said to have been used as a bake house. It has 2 units, one with doorway in a recess and the other facing the passage direct. Windows are small-pane casements and 4-pane sashes under segmental heads, and doorways are boarded.

The passage leads into a back yard. On the L side of the passage is a former cutting room and workers’ mess room. The former has a wall of glazed bricks to the yard and is under a corrugated-iron roof. The 2-storey mess room likewise has a glazed brick lower storey, under a brick upper storey and round-headed window in a wide gable. Both cutting room and mess room have 4-pane sash windows and boarded doors. The gable end has attached blockwork that was part of a former slaughter house.

Interior

The ground-floor former butcher’s shop retains tiled walls and relief-moulded plaster ceiling, which also covers the cross beams. In addition there are metal racks set high on the side walls for hanging carcasses. At the rear is a half-glazed timber booth that was used by clerks. Facing the shop it has a plain dado, five 2-pane sash windows with etched glass, above a frieze of relief foliage, and with simple panelling above. On the L side is a recess under an arch that contains a hatch, with small 2-pane sash window, to the rear office. Within the rear office the booth is also half-glazed, incorporating a single door and also has etched glass. The office itself has the same relief-moulded ceiling as the shop and a floor of red and black tiles.

Access to the shop from the passage is through 2 doorways. One has double glazed doors with lower fielded panels and beneath a pediment, in a small-pane glazed surround. The other half-glazed double doors are plainer (and were boarded up on the passage side at the time of inspection in November 2020). The cutting room has details from the 1970s, comprising full-height tiling to the walls and fridges at the rear.

The cellar, reached by brick steps, was part of the earlier Crown Inn. It is divided into 2 rooms, has whitened rubble-stone walls and a cobbled floor. In one of the rooms are 2 L-shaped arrangements of slate slabs on brick piers.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its well-preserved exterior, which is a fine example of a late C19 town centre commercial building, and for the well-preserved interior, especially the butcher’s shop and its associated offices.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29487222

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

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
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  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)