Pencraig Isaf Farmhouse

Pencraig Isaf Farmhouse is an L-plan, two-storey farmhouse dating to the late 17th or early 18th century, with later additions. It is constructed of whitewashed rubble stone, partly on boulder foundations, with slate roofs and stone chimney stacks. The uphill section of the house, facing the road, has two windows on the right-hand side. The ground-floor window has a dripstone and is a modern replacement; the other is a modern sash window. The main entrance is set in the angle of the L and features a boarded door. A tall chimney is situated on the right gable end, which has a ramped buttress. A stone seat sits beside the door. Projecting forward at the downhill end is the gable of the cross wing, dating to the late 17th or early 18th century, with a corner chimney stack. This section has six-pane sash windows (modern replacements) on both floors, and similar glazing to the two-window south side, which also includes a further entrance. The rear gable end of the cross wing is partly whitewashed and features one deeply recessed window with a slate lintel and dripstone. Projecting masonry is also visible at the corner, although the interior in that area was not accessible for inspection. The uphill section of the house has a deep catslide lean-to, with a small stair window set back to the centre.

The interior, which was not inspected during a resurvey in 1996, was described following an earlier inspection in 1993. Entry is into a lobby, with the main staircase located behind, accessible from the cross wing to the left. The original part of the farmhouse, to the right, contains a kitchen with ogee stop-chamfered beams and joists. A section of the main cross beam has a slot indicating a former screen partition. The fireplace has been modernised; however, to the side of it, beyond a boarded door, is a broad, winding timber staircase. The wall thickness indicates that the lean-to is a 19th-century addition. The cross wing has late-Georgian detailing from the 19th century, including egg and dart cornices, boxed beams, panelled reveals, and panelled doors. One of the main ground floor rooms retains a bracketed chimneypiece and a panelled cupboard, while the other has been converted into a washroom. The main staircase to the rear has a moulded handrail over a balustrade derived from the Chinese Chippendale style. On the first floor, some good, possibly reused, early 17th-century wainscotting is retained to the room above the kitchen, with deeply roll-moulded muntins and guilloche ornamented transoms, a decorative style only found in this area of Wales. This wainscotting is partly obscured by a modern ceiling. The landing has two panel-fronted cupboards, likely from the 17th century, and one bedroom has a splayed corner due to the chimney. Two rooms — one on the remaining first floor of the uphill part and another on the rear ground floor of the cross wing — were inaccessible during the original inspection in 1993.