Gelli Farm

Gelli Farm and Gelli Farm Cottage

This is a 2-storey rubble stone house with a slate roof, built originally as a longhouse in the early 17th century. It comprises a hall, passage, and cow house aligned east-west on a slope, with a parlour at the upper east end and byre at the lower end. A north wing was added in the early 18th century, possibly in 1717 when other farm improvements are documented. This wing is 2 storeys with a loft reached by ladder from the main house. Around 1820, a parlour with integral dairy and a new stair were added on the uphill side of the hall, dated by reference to other documented improvements to the farm buildings. The north wing was later extended by the addition of two cottages, which appear on the Llangynwyd Tithe map of 1842, although physical evidence in the building suggests the cottages were created by altering and extending an earlier structure, with their present late 19th-century appearance reflecting this conversion. In the later 20th century the dairy was demolished and replaced with a small lean-to, and the house was divided into two dwellings: the north wing and cottages forming a separate dwelling from the main farmhouse.

The south-facing main range is rendered and painted cream. The doorway to the cross passage, now a kitchen, is left of centre and is flanked by an outshut on the left side and lean-to on the right side, both added later. The original end walls of these outbuildings define the former extent of the cow house and show evidence of an original pentice. The doorway has a drip stone and window above. To the right of the lean-to is a 19th-century sash window serving the hall, with a window above it under the wall plate, and further right a parlour window under a drip stone. The outshut to the cow house has a central doorway flanked by windows. The upper gable end has a window under a drip stone to the upper left, and the downhill gable end contains an inserted loft doorway. Stone stacks rise at the right end and right of centre.

The north-facing cow house wall retains traces of limewash. It has doorways at the right end under lintel and drip stone and a segmental-headed doorway to the centre. The window to the left is inserted in place of the original cross-passage doorway. A loft doorway is positioned upper left under a wooden lintel and a larger inserted window upper right, with a skylight inserted upper left. Windows are mainly renewals of original openings throughout.

The original north wing is pebble dashed with a slate roof and roughcast stack. Facing west, it has a doorway right of centre and a window under a drip stone to the left, a similar window under drip stone upper right, and a window left. Set back to the left are a single-fronted then a double-fronted cottage, now united as a single dwelling with the north wing. These have slate roofs and roughcast stacks. The cottages have windows inserted in original segmental-headed openings. The right cottage has a stone gabled porch, the left cottage a larger added gabled porch. Projecting stone bands in the front walls suggest they were converted from an earlier building. Behind, the cottages have outshuts under catslide roofs with added skylights.

The interior of the main farmhouse survives with important original features. The original doorway to the hall, positioned adjacent to the fireplace, survives in altered form. The hall has a joist-beam ceiling chamfered with stepped stops and a fireplace with an inserted segmental brick arch. The south window has a panelled reveal. The parlour also has a panelled reveal and on its north side contains a rare bed cupboard. Stairs from the parlour to the upper storey have lower treads of stone and upper treads of wood. The upper storey has an early 19th-century plastered ceiling except at the west end, where a single original truss is visible with a cambered collar. At the top of the original stair beside the hall fireplace, further stone steps with a cross-slab roof lead to the attic space created over the byre. The original stairs from the hall are now infilled.

The byre retains two flagged passages leading to blocked doorways in the south wall, cobbles, and a single manger. A bakehouse providing separate accommodation for farm hands was originally present as additional accommodation. An attic over the cow house, reached from the main stairs, provided further sleeping space in the original design.