Pen yr allt Isaf

Pen yr allt Isaf is a farmstead built in the 18th and 19th centuries, forming three sides of an enclosed yard. The farmstead consists of a domestic range, a farm range, and a cowhouse.

The earlier part of the domestic range is a single-storey building with limewashed rubble walls and a small slate roof, with a large chimney having a moulded cap and coping stones to the gable. A doorway is located towards the centre, with a four-pane window to its left, and a farm range is attached to the right-hand section. A later, 19th-century main house is also built of rubble stone with buttered pointing, prominent quoins and dressings, and a machine-cut slate roof with brick end-wall stacks. It is one-and-a-half storeys high, with a two-unit plan. A central entrance is set within a gabled porch, with a side entrance nearby. Flanking the porch are twelve-pane horned sash windows, with four-pane sashes in brick-lined dormers that break the eaves line.

The western farm range shows two phases of building. The upper section appears original, while the lower section was built as part of later improvements carried out by the Newborough estate in the late 19th century. The upper section is constructed of mortared rubble, with slate roof, sloped to follow the site’s contours. Altered openings suggest partial conversion to domestic use, but an original doorway remains in the lower gable end, and there is a loft opening in the gable, presumably blocked when the barn range was added. A single doorway and vent are present on the rear elevation. The lower section, the barn range, is also of rubble construction with a sloping machine-cut slate roof. A wide door likely led to a former stable, followed by a narrower barn door with flanking vents. This barn door aligns with a square opening in the rear wall, potentially a winnowing window.

The northern farm range, which is the cowhouse, was built in the late 19th century by the Newborough estate. It’s constructed of rubble with buttered pointing and has a machine-cut slate roof. A boarded doorway is positioned on the left, and a similar door with flanking windows is on the right. These are recent replacements, but are based on an original pattern of small-paned upper lights above two-pane lower lights, which originally featured timber sliding shutters. A doorway in the gable end leads to a longitudinal passage. There are no openings on the rear wall, but earthenware pipes are used as vents.

The late 19th-century farm ranges contain sawn timber bolted trusses and original fixtures such as timber stalls and mangers. The right-hand bay of the cowhouse has stalls set at right angles to the building’s axis and includes loft space.