A tannery was established in South Street, Rhayader in the late eighteenth century. Animal hides were soaked in solutions of lime to loosen the hair, which was then removed by scraping, and then the skins were tanned in pits filled with increasingly strong solutions of oak bark. It was the last tannery in Wales to operate this traditional process, which took in total some eighteen months.

The buildings are arranged on an 'L' plan, with office and weighing room on the ground floor with drying and currying (stretching, drying, splitting and oiling) lofts above. A further cross-wing at the south-east end contains a barn where oak bark was stored and ground in a mill powered by an external overshot waterwheel. A single storey building with a hipped roof was the beam house, where hides were defleshed and dehaired. Pits in the yard and under the east range were used for preparing the oak bark solutions and for soaking the hides.

Dismantled in 1962, the tannery was moved to the National History Museum at St Fagans, opening there in 1968.
In early 2014 the site was occupied by a car, van and skip hire depot.

Information from Cadw Listed Buildings database and St Fagans National History Museum website.

W J Crompton, RCAHMW, 9 January 2014.