Pantyrhwch, Llanwnnen, Lampeter

Pantyrhwch is a late 18th century-early 19th-century farm cottage which was largely in its original state when it was bought by its current owners. It is a rare survival of a “hearth passage” type of dwelling, typical of Ceredigion. With most of its period features still intact the owners embarked on restoring the cottage. Wherever possible they carried out repairs as opposed to replacement.

Client: Martin Jones

Contractors: The Lime Company

Materials Supplied: Hydraulic lime render, hemp-lime plaster, woodfibre and sheep’s wool insulation, plant-based paints and pigmented limewash

The roof, walls, floors, windows, and doors were repaired using lime based products and natural paints. The roof space was insulated with sheep’s wool, the quarry tile floors were set in soil, the tiles were lifted; limecrete floor laid with underfloor heating and the quarry tiles re-laid.

A challenge was restoring the original “shimle fawr” which was of lath and plaster construction, fortunately, there were sufficient remnants that allowed the owners to faithfully reconstruct the original lath and plaster chimney breast into which they have installed a wood burning stove with an insulated pipe.

The cottage has a unique staircase which has been repaired and retained. The original cylinder glass in the windows was retained and replacement cylinder glass for broken panes was sourced from France.

As well as restoring the cottage wherever possible the owners were concerned to take into account environmental factors, including installing a ground source heat pump and using sheep’s wool insulation and natural paints.
The restoration has been recognised by the Royal Commission and featured in the BBC “Hidden Histories”.

‘Ty-Mawr have not only a comprehensive source of traditional building materials they have been an invaluable source of advice and information. The training provided on lime plastering has enabled me to carry out more of the work myself and to become much more closely involved in the project’