Cae'r Berllan

Cae'r Berllan is a large farmhouse, originally dating to around 1590, with substantial alterations in the 17th century. The house is constructed of coursed rubble stone, with a slate roof featuring raised gables and gable stacks. It is two storeys high, with attics and cellars, and has a front facade of five window bays, roughly symmetrical but offset to the left. The earliest part of the building appears to be the uncoursed rubble walling and stepped gable at the right-hand end, likely from around 1590. The front facade was largely rebuilt around 1690 using coursed stone. The central doorway has a six-panelled door and a four-pane overlight, both with voussoired lintels that rise to a square plat band which stops short at each end. Above the door, the plat band extends as a moulded head, followed by a further moulded stone course and a datestone reading "HO 1590 KO”. Five similar cross windows are present on the ground floor, and five leaded cross windows on the first floor, all with radial voussoir arches rising to the eaves. Three gabled dormers are set into the roof. A two-storey rear wing has a gable end stack. The rear roofline extends over a lean-to kitchen in the re-entrant angle.

Inside, the front door opens into a wide entrance hall, leading to a fine late 17th- or early 18th-century, dog-leg oak staircase at the rear, with a heavily moulded handrail supported by turned balusters. The main parlour to the right features deep, closely-spaced cross beams running front to back, with cut chamfer stops. A large fireplace dominates one wall, featuring a deep, unchamfered timber lintel, with a blocked door recessed to one side. A front window nearest the fireplace has a thick stone sill carved with two hemispherical cordial bowls, each with a firebox underneath. The first floor has fielded-panelled doors and a bolection moulded fireplace in the main chamber, with windows having panelled reveals. The main staircase continues to the attic level. The attic space contains knee-braced collar trusses, supporting heavy king posts with raking struts, likely part of a late 17th-century remodelling using older timbers. Two tiers of purlins are also present.