Upper Skynlais (Sgyn-las) Farmhouse

Upper Skynlais Farmhouse is a building of group value, dating from the medieval period with significant alterations in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is constructed of colourwashed stone with a slate roof. The farmhouse is a two-storey and attic “L”-plan configuration. The main block runs north to south and has three bays, with the entrance located centrally in the third bay. The entrance features a boarded door with a four-paned overlight, set within a stepped ovolo-moulded frame. Renewed timber small-paned windows are present on both floors, set within original openings with ovolo-moulded timber lintels. Two similar hipped dormers are also visible. The west gable has two additional windows of a similar style. A gable stack is located at the south end, featuring a weather drip.

The narrow north cross wing has a rear gable stack. The ground floor of the wing features a reconstructed three-light oak window with diamond mullions, a moulded sill, a timber lintel, and a stone drip with dropped out-turned ends. This gable is rendered and features shaped bargeboards. The east side of the wing has a five-light transomed window, and the rear has a two-light paned window, both with similar lintels and stone drips. A blocked opening, likely a former doorway to a cross passage, is visible at the junction of the wing and the main block.

The farmhouse was not accessible for inspection in July 1995, but it was fully documented by RCAHMW. Evidence of a screens passage exists, revealed by a crenellated beam, along with a surviving first-floor partition and two tiers of framing including cusped braces and sockets for windbraces, suggesting a house of high social standing. The north cross wing, which represents the surviving medieval solar wing, retains battered walls, broach-stop ceiling beams, and in-situ roof trusses of arched-braced type, although some braces have been removed. The ground floor of this section is divided by a square-framed partition, which includes a segmental-arched doorway. During the 17th century, the medieval hall was storeyed and ceiled with ogee-moulded beams, and a dog-leg staircase was inserted, featuring square newels (formerly ornamented with finials) and a moulded handrail. A heavy lintel is present over the kitchen fireplace, located in the rear wall. The roof trusses of the main part of the house were replaced around 1800, although some 17th and medieval moulded timbers were reused. The building was carefully restored in the mid-1990s.