Penlan

Penlan

A two-storey house of 17th-century origin, constructed in rubble sandstone with a restored stone tile roof. The main range faces south, with a gabled two-storey wing and attic set forward on the left side. Behind the main house is a centrally-placed outshut containing the stair and a cider cellar, with a lately added lean-to. Stone stacks are positioned left of centre in the main range and at the gable end of the wing.

The main range features a modern lean-to porch set in the angle with the south wing, which contains a replaced door to the cross passage. To the right of the doorway is an inserted four-light mullioned hall window, with a restored four-light diamond mullion parlour window further right. Exposed beam ends above the ground floor windows may indicate a former pentice replaced by the present porch. The upper storey has 19th-century half-dormers with replaced casement windows.

The right gable end displays a restored four-light diamond mullion window on the first floor beneath a stop-chamfered lintel, with a similar restored two-light window to the attic.

In the rear wall, a three-light diamond mullion dairy window at the left end sits beneath a chamfered lintel with drip stone. To its right is a two-light hall window with ovolo mullions and dripstone, above which is a two-light casement in a 19th-century half-dormer. The centrally-placed outshut is splayed to avoid the hall window. Its east-facing wall contains an inserted four-light window at low level and a smaller upper-left window with 19th-century leaded glazing in an opening originally built to light the stair. The rear of the outshut is set back to the right with a single-light 19th-century window.

In the west side wall of the outshut, facing the cross-passage doorway, is a two-light diamond mullion window with renewed stanchions that lights the stair. Below it is a tablet inscribed 'MM 1686'. The cross-passage doorway itself is restored with a boarded door, and above it is a four-light diamond mullion window. To its right is a lately added lean-to, with further lately added windows featuring diamond mullions in the upper storey.

The left (west) gable end of the house has a central doorway flanked by windows, all originally serving the byre and set beneath timber lintels. The upper storey contains a lately inserted window in an earlier opening and a ventilation slit beneath the apex.

In the left side wall of the south wing is a casement window in the lower storey, positioned within a former doorway, and a four-light diamond mullion window above. The wing gable end shows a restored three-light diamond mullion window to the left in the attic, a vent strip to the left in the first floor, and a restored two-light diamond mullion window to the left in the lower storey that lights the stair. To the right in the lower storey are two drip stones and a timber lintel of a former opening, beneath which is a later oven projection. Facing the cross-passage doorway is an inserted door to the right in the porch (replacing an earlier doorway in the opposite wall) and a lately restored four-light diamond mullion window to the right in the upper storey.

The house retains its 17th-century plan form, with the hall separated from the byre by the cross passage. The hall features a large fireplace with monolithic jambs and lintel, and contains cross beams and joists with ogee stops. A post and panel partition incorporates two doorways with shaped heads. The stair has wooden treads.

The south wing has cross beams in both storeys with ogee stops. Its fireplace has stone jambs and an ogee-stopped chamfered timber lintel, with an inserted bread oven behind it. Stone steps lead up to a doorway with a shaped head, similar to and possibly contemporary with the doorways in the hall screen.