Ty-Hwnt-y-Bwlch Farmhouse

Ty-Hwnt-y-Bwlch Farmhouse is a substantial stone-built farmhouse dating back to the medieval period, with later alterations. It is a building of group value, reflecting its historical and architectural significance. The house is L-shaped, with a cross wing running parallel to the hillside and a main range extending away from it. It has two storeys and an attic, and incorporates an undercroft at the downhill end. A porch has been added to the front, facing north-east, and there is an unroofed lean-to extension on the downhill end of the rear. The porch features a two-storey gabled design with a C13 pointed-arch entrance, marked by a continuous roll-moulding. A flight of external stone stairs leads to a loft door over the former byre. The window openings are deeply splayed, with a mix of 19th-century sash windows and original diamond-mullioned windows, including one formerly of six lights in the downhill gable end at attic level. Some windows retain Tudor hood-moulds, although all were boarded over during a 1997 inspection. The farmhouse has a quarter Bridgewater clay tiled roof, but most of the original roof covering has been replaced with corrugated asbestos sheeting. There are substantial chimney stacks, one central on the ridge and another on the cross wing, both weathered as if for a thatched roof.

The farmhouse’s original longhouse plan is exceptionally unaltered. Entry is through the storeyed porch, which includes winding stone stairs. The doorway into the cross-passage has unusual broach-stopped details at both the base and doorhead. The cross-passage features in-and-out partitions, likely dating from the 18th century. The doorway from the passage into the hall is remarkable for its elaborately enriched doorhead, carved with a stag, hound/fox, Celtic proto-grotesque motifs, a harp, paterae, and leaves; the door frame has diagonal stops. The hall has a large fireplace with chamfered stone jambs, and cross beams with diagonal-stopped joists. The walls are battered. The dais partition is of particular interest due to its elevated base, continuing above the head-beam on the hall side, suggesting that the uphill end may predate the current hall. This is further supported by the dais's straight stops, which are consistent with those found in the present parlour and service room, uphill. It has also been suggested the original hall was timber-framed and rebuilt later in stone. A plank and muntin partition separates the parlour and service room. A spiral stone staircase is included in the design, and the roof structure comprises C16/C17 tie and collar roof trusses. A byre is located at a lower level to the south-east.