Tyddyn Cynar

Tyddyn Cynar is a cruck house, dating from the 17th century, with a small wing added from the hall, now the sitting room, projecting to the east. The house is constructed of neatly laid, uncoursed stonework in slate, with quoins and some sandstone dressings, with partial render. It has a slate roof and a central stone chimney stack.

The east side, now the front, features a distinctive arrangement of windows and doors to the left of a forward wing. A cross passage doorway has massive posts incorporating boldly projecting jowls, notched and tenoned into the lintel, with a replaced oak door. Adjacent a stone-dressed doorway with a segmental arch and replaced boarded door serves what was originally a byre and is now the kitchen. The forward wing has two altered openings with modern timber windows, and a small window to the flank providing light to the space beneath the stairs. A boarded door is located to the right of the wing. The rear elevation has four windows and a door, with a single window in the south gable end on each floor. All rear and side openings have timber lintels and replaced joinery, with three rooflights at the rear.

The interior layout is unusual. The inner room, now the dining room, is two steps higher than the hall, while the room below the cross passage, now the kitchen, is three steps lower. The inserted chimney stands flush with the central cruck frame, behind which the cross-passage survives. The original two-bay hall has two bays of almost equal size.

The north cruck frame retains jointed crucks, separating the upslope inner room from the hall. This frame includes two Tudor-headed doorways and a post-and-panel screen beneath the main beam, along with evidence for a dais bench and canopy. The use of jointed crucks in this high-status location indicates they were not considered inferior to full crucks. Above the main beam are two posts and a collar beam with exposed infill panels. The remaining cruck frames are of the full cruck type. The central frame has a collar beam with a strongly arched form, and the south frame includes main and collar beams, doorposts, rails and propping holes.