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The next speaker was Trefor Thorpe, a registered conservation architect and former Chief
Architect at Cadw. His presentation was entitled:
Welsh Vernacular
. Thorpe began by asking
whether Wales had a regional vernacular that was different from the rest of the UK. He said
the answer was “six of one and six of the other.”
The vernacular architecture of an area was influenced by the building materials that were
available. Other influences included the environment and the weather: Thorpe pointed out
that the environment across Wales was very varied. Culture and local traditions were
important in defining vernacular architecture too: this had been much clearer before the
coming of the railways. Although all these influences could be cited Thorpe said that
“vernacular was a murky concept.”
The climate in Wales was essentially a maritime one and in terms of weather it rained a lot.
So buildings got wet and that meant materials like timber and straw could be prone to rot and
decay. Earth building could be vulnerable in such a climate too - since earth washed away
when it rained a lot - unless such buildings were well maintained.
There were no traditional domestic buildings that had survived from before the 15
th
century.
Much of the central area of Wales had been covered with broad leafed forests: so timber was
readily available, but there was little stone.
Thorpe cited a seminal study of Welsh vernacular buildings: Peter Smith (1975)
Houses of the
Welsh Countryside
. In the book Smith had demonstrated the distribution of vernacular
buildings in Wales and he had concluded that there was no uniform vernacular in the country.
A relatively new view was that Wales is not a highland region of the UK, since there are a lot
of lowlands and valleys. The hall house had been identified as a common theme, but there
had been geographical variations and different traditions. In the post-railways eras imported
styles had been identified: there were local idiosyncrasies and examples of new materials
being used in old styles. Delegates were shown some examples to illustrate these ideas.
Thorpe then focussed on the Snowdonia House, which was the first example of a hall house
that had developed into a storied house. Carreg-fawr Farmhouse, from Waunfawr in
Gwynedd and the Llainfaydn slate man’s cottage, from Rhostryfan in Caernarfonshire each
told part of this story and they were now both in the Museum of Welsh life at St Fagans.
In east Wales where timber had been readily available there had been hall houses with cruck
frames. In the south west there had been hall house and long house including byres. In these
houses a central fire location had been dominant. There were examples of peasant halls and
barns that had been just butted onto house. In the west the available timber had been poor
quality and there had been a culture of poverty, but there had been buildings with wicker
chimney structures for the fires. In recent times there had been a resurgence of thatching
skills too, but the debates here had focussed on traditional style versus chocolate box style.
One recent trend had been the increasing number of vernacular buildings being used as
holiday lets, which were proving to be very popular with city dwellers. On a positive note
using these vernacular buildings as holiday lets meant an active reuse had been found. Griff