Plas Isaf

Plas Isaf is a large, storeyed farmhouse built in a unit-planned Z-shape. It dates from the 18th century, with later additions and alterations. The farmhouse is constructed of rubble, now with a modern pebble-dash finish, and has slate roofs with deep verges and simply-moulded bargeboards. It features two-stage red brick chimneys, dating from around 1900, with oversailing courses to their capping. A modern single-storey closed porch has been added to the northeast side, facing the garden, with an entrance on its return. Most windows are modern replacements within 19th-century openings, except for a mid-19th century 12-pane sash on the first floor of the main northeast range. The southeast gable features a large segmentally-headed window on the ground floor, with a plain casement section to the lower half and multi-pane glazing above. A small segmentally-headed window is located in the gable apex, also with late 19th-century plain casement glazing. A lower, L-shaped range adjoins the main building to the left. This has a modern gabled porch with a 20th-century part-glazed door, and a 19th-century 12-pane sash above. The return section has an entrance with a boarded door and a 12-pane casement window above, while to the left is a 4-pane late 19th-century sash. A modern garage extension has been added to the gable end of this range. At the rear of the property is a late Victorian brick gabled loading bay with moulded bargeboards, a segmental entrance, and a boarded door, complemented by a 12-pane sliding sash window at ground level. The north and west sides of the property have modern, out-of-character windows.

The west range, forming the central section of the Z-plan house, contains a former hall which has been sub-divided. It features ogee stopped-chamfered ceiling beams and plain joists. The entrance hall of the main northeast range boasts a fine, large bolection-moulded wooden doorcase framing the entrance from the inside. This is of wooden construction, now painted, with scrolled volutes at the base and a tripartite moulded overthrow. Associated with the doorcase is an exceptionally fine oak stair, featuring barley-twist balusters, square newels, complex geometric finials, a moulded string and rail, and contemporary treads and risers. The stair is of a dog-leg type with winders and segmental steps, similar to those found at Plas Uchaf, and extends to the second (attic) floor, which is partially boxed-in. A dog-gate with flat, S-shaped balusters was found detached in the attic during a survey in 1998. The entrance hall retains simple contemporary ribbed and panelled plasterwork to the ceilings and beams, although much of it is papered over. Similar plasterwork is also found in the present kitchen, which was formerly the ‘Parlour Mawr.’ On the first floor, the original random-width oak floor-boards remain, along with two contemporary ovolo-moulded, pegged oak doorcases.