Lower Maenllwyd

Lower Maenllwyd is a three-unit, two-storey lobby-entry house, likely dating from the 17th or 18th century, with a central, two-storey gabled porch. The house has a timber frame set on a masonry plinth, topped with a slate roof. A masonry stack is located opposite the entrance, and a brick gable stack is on the east side. The timber framing is comprised of four rows of box panelling with brick nogging. The porch, constructed from reused timber reportedly from another building, features box panels filled with render. Fretted barge boards and a pendant finial were likely moved from a late 19th-century porch. A modern planked front door is under a pitched canopy supported by brackets. The front elevation contains 20th-century small-pane wooden casement windows, most occupying two panels and located one to each storey on the west side, and two to each storey on the east side, with French windows at the eastern end. The west gable end is built of roughly coursed masonry with an eight-pane window on the upper storey. The east gable end is of brick, featuring a nine-pane window on the upper storey and a glazed door below. A masonry lean-to has been raised in brickwork to form a gabled wing at the rear, incorporating a stairlight. To its east is a further masonry lean-to with a 20th-century pitched porch at its eastern end, featuring a glazed door. To the west of this lean-to is a timber-framed lean-to containing a wide 12-pane sash window, and a pitched, timber-clad extension with a glazed door has been built onto the end.

Internally, timber framing is visible, particularly at the east end of the west bay and the rear of the central bay. The framing between the porch and the hall shows no signs of weathering, suggesting a porch has always been part of the house. The staircase is now located opposite the entrance in the rear extension, having previously been on the east side of the porch. The west bay features a chamfered spine beam. Timberwork, possibly from the former Newtown Hall, has been inserted into the room behind, including moulded and decorated beams on fluted posts, with carved animal head bosses as decoration. The central and east bays of the house have been combined and contain chamfered spine beams supported by a large central post brought in from elsewhere. The masonry face of the central fireplace has been reconstructed, but the fireplace itself is original and includes an early lintel and signs of red paint to the rear and sides. The dairy was apparently located in the east masonry lean-to, with a coal cellar underneath.