Waen Farmhouse

Waen Farmhouse

A two-storey house of rubble stone construction with a renewed slate roof, truncated stone end stack to the left, and raised stone copings to the gables. The front elevation is of four windows. A blocked doorway to the right of centre leads to the cross-passage; it has large stone jambs and a dressed stone lintel with a recessed segmental arch to the soffit, and bears an inscribed date of 1619 in the spandrels. The blocking now contains a small 20th-century window. Offset to the left of the doorway at first-floor level is a small unglazed window with diagonally-set timber mullions. The remaining windows are late 20th-century two-light wooden casements (three-light to the ground floor left of centre), with flat stone lintels and sills; the upper storey windows sit under the eaves. A mid-20th-century single-storey shallow lean-to conservatory adjoins the left end. The south gable end features a window to each storey offset to the right, matching the front but with timber lintels. The east gable end has a similar arrangement with stone lintels and sills, the ground-floor window being three-light. To the rear, offset slightly to the right, a gabled staircase projection rises, with a second unglazed window of three lights with diagonally-set timber mullions immediately under the eaves to the south side. A tiny stairlight sits offset to the left below this. A two-light 20th-century casement window lights the gable end of the staircase projection. A large 20th-century red brick flat-roofed extension on the left side of the staircase bay includes the current entrance. A tall brick stack stands in the angle between the main range and the extension, formerly a lateral stack serving the hall fireplace.

The principal interest of this building lies in its interiors and its origins as a hall-house. The front entrance leads into the cross-passage, with the former medieval hall to the left. The partition separating them was necessarily moved slightly south for the insertion of the cross-passage. The partition at the dais end was also repositioned south to allow access to the staircase, and the original dais partition location is marked by a step down. A triangular-headed timber doorway gives access to dog-leg stone stairs with concrete treads. To the left of the staircase is a further triangular-headed doorway set at an angle, leading into a small room. The wide lateral fireplace on the west side of the hall features a curving timber bressummer, a recess (possibly a seat) to the left jamb, and partially blocked recesses to the rear. The hall retains a cross beam and part of an axial beam with chamfers and broach stops. The parlour or inner room was originally divided by a partition, of which a doorway remains. To the right of the cross-passage is the former dairy, which includes an axial beam with broach stops and a small fireplace, possibly of 19th-century date.

On the first floor, the main upper chamber occupies the south end. It contains a fireplace with a dressed stone surround of sunk-chamfered profile and high quality, featuring a corbelled stone lintel and cornice. Above it is a fine plastered over-mantel dated 1632, bearing the reversed lion of Mostyn and the eagle of Gwydir, all set within a garlanded border; the design recalls work in the library at Mostyn Hall. On the opposite north wall stands the back of the upper part of the dais partition, which is close-studded and retains revealed remains of painting. Beyond this partition is the chamber created when the hall was ceiled. It preserves the coving of the dais canopy, which is plastered and employs a Queen-post timber arrangement; the coving is thought to be a later addition to the partition. When the hall was ceiled, studded partitions were added to the other pre-existing roof trusses.