40 C O N T E X T 1 4 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 7 applications with seemingly more minor impacts may not be given the attention they require.The continuing loss of experienced conservation staff across the UK has also inevitably had some impact on the numbers of applications which can be fully investigated, and local politics impacts on the weight given to the lone voice of conservation in authorities.There are simply not enough resources to research every historic building thoroughly. Reliance is placed on the material submitted by the applicant, which is often sparse or poorly researched, or the requirement for justification is not fully understood. Officers often give priority to preventing harm to larger buildings and structures which are listed in their own right, and the impact on curtilage buildings or setting is a less weighty consideration. This, and the general lack of any protection for small vernacular buildings, has led to the loss or unsympathetic conversion of many of the agricultural or rural outbuildings which help to refine our understanding of previous economies and social structures, and which contribute to the landscape character of particular areas. This is of course not solely a Welsh issue: much attention has been given to the significance, condition and potential re-use of field barns inYorkshire, for example. However, a recent application for listed building consent for the retrospective demolition of a pigsty in rural Powys brought the issue to my attention in my capacity as the Council for British Archaeology’s listed building caseworker forWales. Coedtrewernau, near Abbey-cwm-hir, Powys, is a Grade II listed mill with attached cottage (Listed Building ref 83357). It is recorded on the RCAHMW’s Coflein system as a small farmstead on the north bank of the Clywedog Brook, consisting of a house (NPRN 81118), corn mill (NPRN 40284), pigsty and other buildings.The site is first mentioned, as CoedTrewerny, in 1623, and Coed-Trewernau Mill (corn) is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map, along with the positions of the associated leat, mill race and pond.The OS map from 1887 shows these features more clearly and also a small outbuilding in the location of the pigsty. The remaining machinery within the mill has been dated to the 1730s, although the listed building description dates the present building to the mid-19th century. A reference is made to the existence of a ‘corn mill and fulling mill’ in 1770, but whether these were the same building is not known. The corn mill ceased working between 1895 and 1903, and the waterwheel was removed around 1940.There are therefore some inconsistencies in the records, but because the mill machinery dating is thought to be reliable it would seem that the 19th century date for the mill is unlikely. It is also generally believed that due to the efforts of construction, presumably especially for the races, leats and ponds, and the careful selection of sites, that ‘some post-medieval and early modern mills occupy sites that were in use in earlier centuries. Medieval mills are relatively rare, and it is generally assumed that many must lie beneath or very close to their post-medieval successors’ (CPAT 2012). It is therefore possible that the mill at Coedtrewernau was built on the site of an earlier or perhaps medieval mill, and that the mill itself, or at least its machinery and site, dates from the mid-18th century or earlier. The pigsty at Coedtrewernau was included in the site photograph for the buildings at risk survey of Powys in 2009. It is shown as having slipped roof slates but little else is shown of its condition. The application provides several other photographs since this time, demonstrating its gradual decay and ultimately partial demolition in 2011, when the owners considered it to be unsafe. It is now a low pile of grassed-over rubble, on which site the owners wish to construct a greenhouse. A planning application for the construction of several new outbuildings (summer house, greenhouse, shed and wood store) was originally also submitted to the local planning authority. However, because the site of the greenhouse was partially on the site of the pigsty, which required listed building consent for its demolition, the application was withdrawn until the application for demolition had been decided. Since the structure has been totally demolished, there is no physical evidence left to inform us about the history and use of this outbuilding.The historical maps appear to show other outbuildings and a track leading to the structure. It may be possible that this was a small barn, drying kiln or other outbuilding with another purpose, or that its use had changed over time, leaving behind physical evidence of these changes, which has now been lost. The archaeological evidence of the original mill References Cadw (2004) Converting Historic Farm Buildings inWales:A Guide to Good Practice, Cadw, Cardiff Cadw (2006) Traditional Agricultural Buildings inWales: care and conservation, Cadw, Cardiff Clywd Powys Archaeological Trust (2012) Report No 1174: Mills and Milling, scheduling enhancement programme 2011–12, CPAT, Welshpool English Heritage (2015), Farmstead Assessment Framework, English Heritage, London Scottish Executive Central Research Unit (2001) The Conversion of Redundant Farm Steadings to Other Uses, The Stationary Office, Edinburgh SPAB Mills Section Committee (2004) A Philosophy of Repair of Windmills andWatermills, SPAB, London An aerial view of Coedtrewernau Mill and the surrounding field boundaries (Photo: Google 2016)
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