The Traditional Cottages of West Wales

by Ross McCabe of Under the Thatch

The simple country cottages of Wales contribute greatly to the character of their locality. These cottages provide a strong accent to the area in which they were created, demonstrating regional variation in local materials and techniques were that were employed in construction. This is due to the fact that only limited trends and fashions from England or Europe managed to make it over the mountainous landscape to influence the Welsh builders. Although no two cottages are identical, they commonly display similar characteristics which are typically seen across West Wales.

Few remaining Welsh cottages date back to the 17th century or earlier. However, many standing cottages are built using ancient techniques. As most cottages were built by their inhabitants building techniques continued in practice for centuries. The long tradition of building Welsh cottages in this way makes them feel much older than in most cases they actually are. The vast majority of cottages that survive today date back to the late 18th and 19th centuries and were built as a result of nationwide population growth. However, earlier examples do survive (and are reasonably common in Gwynedd).

The earliest cottages in Wales were barely more than single roomed mud huts with a thatched roof and no windows. These huts were either temporary structures that rapidly became derelict, or they were gradually modified and upgraded by the family that occupied them. The earliest cottages in West Wales may well have started out as basic ‘hovels’ but by the early twentieth century most had either disappeared or been rebuilt with the ‘modern’ conveniences of windows, internal partitions and sleeping lofts or floors to the first storey.

The household furniture in these dwellings often served a double purpose as a partition to divide the space between the living and sleeping areas. Many of these simple buildings were indeed upgraded again in the second half of the 19th century when the development of the railway system to the area brought in new materials such as sawn timbers and bricks. From this point onwards the floors, walls and roofs in many cottages throughout Wales were altered.

Most cottages were built by the occupying family with the help from their neighbours - indeed it appears communities worked together to build some ‘clom’ (earth) cottages during the drier months. Throughout the 19th century the trend was to build ‘tied’ cottages within the confines of the farm with which they were associated, though this trend eventually died out as farmers were incapable of maintaining their upkeep. The poorest people in this society were forced to build their cottages on more marginal lands, such as along roadsides, or on coastal and upland margins that had little or no agricultural value.

With the increasing pressure of the population on the land in the 19th century, the building of cottages began to encroach on the common land. As a result many Welsh cottages started out as crude squats that were built overnight. These squats were known as 'tai unnos' (one night houses). People believed that if they could build the house in one night and have smoke rising from the chimney by morning, the house and the land around it was rightly theirs (even when often this wasn’t actually the case). These makeshift dwellings were of course temporary and once the occupiers felt secure on their newly claimed land they set about converting it into a more permanent structure.

Such encroachments of dwelling spaces onto the commons were tolerated before the legal enclosure of common land. After this period the erection of these cottages on common lands was far less acceptable. However, even after the enclosure of common land came into force, building in marginal areas was encouraged in some places as it added value to poor land by way of rents and taxes.

Once the availability of new building materials and the influence of external ideas towards design and construction became commonplace, the characteristic Welsh cottage began to take on many new forms quite separate from their original design. In particular the Georgian ‘symmetrical’ or near symmetrical front façade with a central doorway became commonplace. These cottages replace earlier models with gable-entry doorways.

Surviving cottages of the traditional type face an uncertain future. Many of the best-preserved examples have been given protection in the form of a ‘listed’ status. However, many more of these buildings are disappearing from the landscape at an alarming rate through poor care and dereliction, or are being modified out of all recognition by well-meaning developers.

There is far less respect for the traditional Welsh cottage in modern society than there is for the grand stately home and yet these modest buildings can potentially tell us far more about the development of Welsh society and culture over the past 300 or so years. Careful conservation and restoration of what we have left is essential if we are to maintain the rich and varied heritage of this country.

Why not book one of our traditional cottages for your holiday in West Wales? Just click here.

Profits are used to restore local vernacular buildings using traditional techniques. Read more about our business here.

Further Reading

Davies, M. 1991. Save the Last Magic… Traditional Qualities of the West Wales Cottage. Crown Print, Llandysul.

Cadw. 2003. Small Rural Dwellings in Wales: Care and Conservation. Cardiff: Cadw

See also our links pages where we provide a list of architectural links