Plas-yn-Faerdref

Plas-yn-Faerdref is a large house with a complex history, comprising a 19th-century front block and an earlier core dating back to the 17th century.

The front block, built around 1820, is a symmetrical three-window design of two storeys with attics. It is constructed of rendered stone with a slate roof and has diagonally placed yellow brick gable end stacks featuring dentilled bands. The central bay is emphasised by a prominent attic gable with overhanging eaves, decorative bargeboards, and a finial. The central entrance has reinstated rendered quoins and an ornate six-panelled door with an overlight within a reeded architrave. A modern porch has been added, believed to replicate a previous feature. The windows are mostly 16-pane hornless sashes, with nine panes to the attic storey. The wide central gable is flanked by gabled dormers mirroring the eaves detail. An integral, low-hipped roofed wing adjoins the rear.

A longer rear range extends to the north, representing the original house situated down the slope. This section is limewashed rubble with a slate roof, where the lower sections are built of regularly coursed and squared rubble, contrasting with the rougher stonework above. The north elevation has a doorway on the right, creating a lobby entrance framed by an inserted stack – a tall stone chimney against the rear wall of the main range. To the left of the doorway is a five-light stone mullioned window, a replacement of an earlier window from around 1600. Two broad gabled dormers sit above. On the south elevation, a three-light timber mullioned window and a smaller window have been replaced, with a gabled dormer set within the roof above. A stone stack is at the upper gable, which has an inserted doorway, likely associated with a 19th-century service range.

A single-storey stable range and well house adjoins the early wing, running parallel to the slope.

During a 2000 survey by RCAHMW, two full cruck trusses were found in the rear range, defining the upper bay of the hall and its inner room. These crucks have short king-posts above the upper collars, with mortices for ridge braces – a rare feature. The central hall truss is arch-braced to a lower collar, while the cruck forming a closed partition has elbowed raking struts above a lower collar. RCAHMW also recorded details relating to the insertion of a fireplace and upper floor around 1600, including stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops and an ovolo-moulded stone mullioned window, now replaced. The later main range is described as having a central stair hall with a ramped staircase, flanked by a beamed best kitchen and parlour.