Primary House at Rhos Fawr Isaf

Primary House at Rhos Fawr Isaf

This is a late medieval hall house, now appearing externally as an agricultural range. The building's distinctive down-hill siting on a platform cut from a rocky spur suggests early domestic origins beneath its current agricultural form.

The structure is a long, storeyed range with a high lower section largely clad in roughly dressed rubble stone, with a lean-to of similar construction. The central section of the west-facing elevation has weatherboarding on framing over a high stone plinth, with some exposed timber-framing visible to the north beyond a much later lean-to extension. The east elevation also has some weatherboarding and breeze-block repairs. The north-east section comprises brickwork, while the upper gable is stone with brick dressings. The roof is slated with distinctive large slates, particularly on the east slope, where a few courses of smaller slates sit at the eaves. The eaves project noticeably.

Two wide cart entries occupy the upper north-west section, one now partially infilled. The east elevation has a series of doors associated with later use as a cow-house. Loft windows with pegged 2-light frames and wrought iron bars are set in the upper north-east elevation and upper gable, flanking a central loft door.

Interior Plan and Features

From the upper (north) end, the building comprises three units of the original hall house: an inner room, a hall with cross passage, and a parlour. Below the parlour are the remnants of an early cow-house with its later extension.

The original hall space is now bisected by an inserted stone wall that underpins one of its trusses and runs approximately along the line of the front of the firehood. The rear of the firehood survives as a cross-beam showing mortices for its framing. Below it lay the cross passage, separated from the parlour by a post-and-panel partition containing a wide central doorway with fine chamfered faceted pendant. Some original framing survives in the west walls of both hall and parlour.

On the upper side of the dividing stone wall lies the main body of the hall, separated from the inner room by a post-and-panel partition finely chamfered on the hall side. The positions of two doorways set at each end can be identified in the framing. The probably secondary hall ceiling comprises paired spine beams with double-stepped (diagonal and curved) chamfer stops and minimally chamfered joists. The inner room also has stop-chamfered spine beams, but the broad stop-chamfered joists suggest it is rather earlier and probably primary.

Both partitions display a rich collection of carpenters' marks. The main beams for the hall ceiling are scribed with setting-out marks corresponding to the positions of mortices and chamfer stops.

Below the parlour, the original gable end of the dwelling survives as weathered framing with angle braces on a stone plinth. Beyond it are remains of further wall framing and stall-boards marking the original limit of an early feeding walk. Remnants of early framing survive in both long walls, including two posts that formerly supported framing for the original hipped roof. The extent of the first cow-house probably corresponds with the surviving timber-framed partition on a stone plinth. The truss above it replaced the former hipped roof. Beyond this, the framing is of later type, and the lower gable wall is brick.

Roof Structure

Upstairs, the roof structure of the late medieval house is revealed in its entirety. Heavily smoke-blackened timbers mark the extent of the original hall, and the position of its firehood is indicated by a surviving section of its rear cross-beam. The trusses are all of tie-beam and collar type, with struts above the collar and studs running from tie-beam to collar.

The trusses between hall and inner room and between hall and parlour are now open, but a series of stave holes indicates they were originally closed. The central truss over the hall has been infilled in brick but was probably also closed originally. Some wind-braces survive in-situ over the hall, as does a length of the original ridge over the parlour. Lower purlins over both hall and parlour are chamfered.

Marking the probable extent of the first cow-house, the lower truss is of similar type to those above, but differential weathering suggests the truss was reconstructed above the tie-beam, probably when the lower bay was added.

Agricultural Use and Later Modifications

The building contains significant traces of its later use for agriculture. In the former hall, parlour, and lower bay, several timber cow-stalls with their mangers survive. A cobbled floor in the former inner room is associated with its later use as a cart-bay.