Garnllwyd Farmhouse

Garnllwyd Farmhouse

This is a substantial house comprising two ranges, graded as listed building grade II*. The structure evolved over several centuries, beginning with a first floor hall of 15th-century date in the north-east range. A two-storey wing was added to the south-west of the hall during the 17th century. Originally, a medieval two-storey tower stood at the junction of the two ranges, but this has been removed and is now evident only from the floor plan. A small two-storey cell was added to the north-east of the hall range, probably in the 18th century, and an ancillary room with entrance hall was subsequently created at the junction with the former medieval hall where the tower once stood.

The external walls are constructed of rendered limestone rubble with Sutton stone dressings, and the pitched roof is clad in slate. The west gable elevation displays an exceptional corbel table that bisects the attic storey and contains a single cusped light. A series of four single-light, square-headed windows with plain chamfers and small lights beneath serves the ground floor. The north-west elevation of the former kitchen range features a two-light stone mullion and transomed window of early 17th-century form with hoodmould and square label stops at ground floor level. The west elevation of the kitchen range is lit by a single 17th-century square-headed dressed stone window with mullion and transom above. The south elevation of the kitchen range has no historic lighting other than a modern window at first floor level. The east elevation retains a later casement to ground floor and a modern doorway with single modern casement above. The south elevation of the hall range has two two-light casement windows in original openings at ground floor level with a small window above. The north elevation of the former medieval hall displays a massive buttress of probable 17th-century date at its east end, with a doorway to the west and two windows at first floor level.

The plan forms an L-shape, with the original 15th-century or earlier hall (now subdivided to provide a hallway and parlour) flanked to the south-west by an early 17th-century kitchen range. At the junction of the hall and kitchen range is a 19th-century two-storey extension, with a similar extension at the east end of the hall range. The house is entered from the west through a doorway at the junction of the two ranges into an 18th-century hallway that retains no exposed early features. A 19th-century straight-flight cranked stair occupies the west corner. Access to a long hallway is gained via a dressed stone 15th-century doorway of pointed form with simple chamfer and keel stops. The west wall contains two plank-door cupboards; the east door conceals the remains of the original 15th-century ground floor hall fire, substantially demolished to allow access to the 17th-century wing, while the west door conceals a rectangular 15th-century dressed stone window. The original stair rises from the north-west corner of the hall, with an external door at its north end.

To the east of the hallway lies the parlour, which has a later 20th-century fire-surround concealing an earlier fireplace. The north wall is partly panelled with 17th or 18th-century built-in oak cupboards, possibly originally forming a bed cupboard. The parlour ceiling is carried on four heavy timber beams with broad chamfers. The south wall has two two-light windows set deep within 15th-century arched recesses. An east-wall door provides access to a later 19th-century service room.

The 17th-century kitchen range to the south-west of the hall is entered at its north corner and remains substantially unaltered. It retains a large open fire at the south end with a dry cupboard to the east and large bake ovens flanking the east and west jambs. The west wall contains a small single-light square-headed dressed stone window. The north-west wall is lit by a 17th-century mullion and transomed window. The ceiling features three heavy exposed beams with medium chamfers and straight-cut stops. The floor is understood to conceal an "ox-blood" floor beneath the present timber flooring.

The first floor hall and 17th-century wing have been substantially partitioned into five rooms but retain the original fenestration pattern, with dressed stone mullion and transom windows to the 17th-century wing and later windows in original openings to the hall range. A fine dressed stone doorway at the head of the stairs has keel stops similar to the ground floor example. The ceilings are probably of 17th-century date, though later altered. Access to the attic is via a spiral stair at the north-west corner of the hall range, approached through a pointed dressed stone doorway with simple chamfer and keel stops.

The attic contains an exceptionally fine 15th-century arch-braced roof with moulded principals and collar beam, and a carved foliate boss at the west end. The roof is framed with two trenched purlins and a ridge piece, with mortice evidence of former windbracing. Evidence of a former gallery at the west end is lit by a trefoil-headed lancet set within a deeply splayed curved-headed recess. The south side is heated by a square-headed dressed stone fire with simple chamfer and keel stops.