History

The buildings are thought to be early C18, and show on Speed's map of the town of 1715. Their layout and construction are of firmly traditional character, and they would seem to be amongst the few buildings in the town to pre-date its major building phases of the later C18 and early C19. They appear to have been built as a pair, but were extended with the addition of rear outshuts in two phases. The cottages (both of which had for a time been in use as public houses) had fallen into a state of disrepair by the early C20, and have been sympathetically restored, combining the two former dwellings into a single property used as offices on inspection in August 2005.

Exterior

Pair of cottages; rubble stone with coloured limewash (a restoration of the historical finish); slate roofs with (rebuilt) stone gable end stacks. One and a half storeyed, each cottage a 2-unit plan with off-centre entrance. Panelled doors reproduce a traditional Cardigan style, and flanking windows (restored in original openings with timber lintels and renewed slate sills) are 12-pane sashes. Upper windows are cat-slide dormers with 6-pane sashes, aligned with the lower windows but with an additional window to right of doorway in number 1. At rear, added outshuts of slightly differing heights, the doors flanked by small-paned casement windows, and reconstructed brick stack between the two units.

Attached to the rear of number 2 is the former stable, built as a lean-to against the boundary wall of the castle: also rubble with slate roof; central doorway and flanking windows. Beyond the stable, the rear boundary is a high rubble stone wall.

Interior

Original layouts modified but still discernable: each cottage once comprised two-unit plan with central through passage, though internal partitions have been lost, and the two cottages are now linked at each floor by doors cut through the original dividing wall. Much of the original internal structure survives, including the (apparently re-used) cross-beams supporting the upper floor (the floor itself partially removed in number 2), and the roof trusses (rough principal rafters with high-set collars). Simnai fawr survives in number 2, including small cast-iron range and brick domed bread oven; rear outshut of this cottage also retains corner fireplace with small cast-iron range.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as rare surviving early buildings in the town, unusual as vernacular buildings surviving in an urban context, sensitively restored to enhance their traditional character.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29508019

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability