History

Mid C18 origins as small house and attached general store. Piecemeal building development throughout C19 as business expanded and diversified. Established by John Price of Penybont Hall, taken over by the Thomas family in 1805. In its heyday in the late C19 the premises included, besides a large shop, a tailors workshop, a large laundry, a tea warehouse and a seed merchant. Sub-branches operated in Howey and Dolau and in 1881 William Thomas opened The Central Wales Emporium in Llandrindod Wells. The Penybont business declined thereafter and finally closed in 1958.

Exterior

From left, late C19 two-storey domestic range in red brick with twin gables and gabled porch. Slate roof, brick end stack. Door replaced by modern window with fanlight head, windows are large multi-pane lights with chamfered frames. Early C19 rubble stone wing adjoins, entrance front is rendered studwork, brick end stack, glazed door, upper window sash with horns. Shop front elevation in rendered studwork, raised roofline, hipped slate roof. Central double door of framed boards with large overlight. Ground floor windows, large multipane lights; upper windows, twelve-pane sashes with horns in older flush-set moulded surrounds. Mid C19 two-storey gable wing adjoins to right (storeroom and outfitters), decorative bargeboards, large multi-pane upper window, double boarded doors. Later C19 two-storey laundry range adjoins in brick with brick stack and slate roof. Rear elevations show lean-to's to the old house and the shop, in rubble stone and brick. The original part of the house has walls raised in stud and weatherboards and a stud extension with large multi-pane windows to provide light for a tailors' workroom. Original large rubble stack.

Outbuilding range: Mid C19 building known as The Tea House. Constructed as warehouse and coachhouse serving the former general stores. One-and-a-half storeys, painted rubble stone, tin roof. Decorative bargeboards, "Gothic" window with ashlar arched head in east gable, large double doors below and at west end. Interior plastered throughout. Exposed beam and joists, plain staircase. Later C19 stud and weatherboarded premises formerly seed merchant adjoins at west end.

Interior

Original structure dates to C18; square-panel, timber-framed, two-unit house with large rubble end stack, open fireplace with timber lintel, stone-lined bread oven and inglenook seat (partly rebuilt in recent years). Exposed scroll-stopped beam, modern stair. Early C19 rubble stone wing butts up to timber frame - axial beam with step stop, rubble fireplace with brick cambered lintel. Former shop probably remodelled in 1805, has boarded floor and board lined walls, retains U-plan counters, some early ones in oak, later ones panelled deal with drawers under. Incomplete but substantial survival of floor to ceiling open shelving and drawer runs. Two cast-iron pillars support boxed beams. Six-panel doors, rear access to lean-to formerly used for bakery storage with original shelving and boarded ceiling. Boarded door marked "Gentlemen Only" leads to storerooms with gentlemen's' outfitters on first floor. Staircase with scroll ended handrail, good quality shop fittings incorporating cast-iron fireplace and panelled overmantel. Access from there to former ironing room set above the laundry, a single large room with matchboarded walls and large multi-pane windows with chamfered frames. First-floor rooms in the house have six-panel doors and cast-iron fireplaces.

Reasons for Listing

The entire complex with its interiors is a remarkable survival of a formerly important building type, now scarce throughout Wales.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29488115

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2