Pen-Cilau

Pen-Cilau is a house comprising two adjoining ranges of different dates and character. The southern (uphill) range is of two-and-a-half storeys, built of masonry rubble with a stone tiled roof. The northern (downhill) range is of two storeys with a three-window front, the upper walls constructed of snecked masonry with a slate-covered roof. Both ranges have masonry chimneys at their northern ends.

The southern range dates to the 17th century. Its principal features include a central boarded door with small light, approached by stone steps, though this is not the main entrance. Above this door is a 20th-century wooden window with three lights and cusped heads. To the left is a small blocked window opening with a small sash above it. All these openings have heavy stone lintels. The main entrance to the house is located in the centre of the downhill range, with a planked door and overlight under an arched head, flanked by horned sash windows (the left one being tripartite), all beneath heavy stone lintels. The first floor of this range has three 12-pane sash windows. The south gable end displays intricately carved 20th-century wooden barge boards. There is a metal door to the attic storey with timber lintel; a former stairway may have been removed. The lower floor sits below ground, with a low stone extension. The rear of the uphill range contains two first-floor windows with timber diamond-mullion windows, recently restored, a central ground-floor doorway, and a lean-to with corrugated roof to the left. The downhill range has no openings to the rear, but has two small sashes on the north gable end.

Interior of the uphill range: The hall and former inner rooms occupy this space. The northern fireplace has a long timber lintel, with a small pointed-head recess to its left. To the left of the fireplace is a bake-oven under a cambered stone lintel, which appears to block a former fireplace staircase. To the right is an original doorway under a chamfered wooden lintel, now leading to the 19th-century range, which probably replaces or remodels an earlier byre or outer room. The hall and former inner rooms (now a store) are divided by a narrow brick wall. Both spaces have chamfered cross beams with cut stops. A post and panel partition formerly stood just south of the brick wall, its position marked by a cross beam. The joists differ on either side of this beam: those in the hall are chamfered with cut stops, while those in the store are unchamfered. A fireplace formerly existed at the south end of the store, now bricked up; the stack is said to be corbelled. The uphill range features boarded doors, flagstone floors, and windows with wide splayed reveals.

The downhill range is entered through the centre and contains a central stair hall with dog-leg staircase and flanking reception rooms, featuring timber boarded partitions and panelling.

The first floor of the uphill range has cross beams with short ogee stops (unlike those on the ground floor), suggesting the roof may have been raised. The joists are chamfered with cut stops. The fireplace at the north end is offset to the right with a pointed head; access is now from the left, though the curving wall suggests a former fireplace stair. Slots are visible for a former post and panel partition. The attic is said to contain upper cruck trusses.