Upper Tal-y-fan

Upper Tal-y-fan is a farmhouse dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Originally a single-depth, linear building running north-south, it is constructed of white-painted rubble walls with blue slate roofs and red brick chimneys. The west front presents an irregular appearance, composed of two main elements: a tall, single-storey, three-bay range and a two-storey, single-bay windowless outbuilding. A lean-to, now used as a sun-lounge and covered by a catslide roof, has been added to the south end of the facade, partially obscuring the entrance and a modern window. To the left of the lean-to are two low, oblong, three-light windows with thin wooden lintels and renewed glazing, which illuminate the centre and north bays respectively. A small square window, also with a similar lintel, is positioned higher up, lighting a mural staircase in the northwest corner. Small square chimneys are located on each gable of this range. The rear of the main range is two-storeyed, with a modern part-glazed lean-to covering the centre and part of the north bay up to sill-level of the upper floor. A small two-light window is to the left of the lean-to, and above are three three-light casements, all with renewed glazing.

At the north end, an angle between the north gable and the rear of the two-storey outbuilding features a stone lean-to with a plain doorway to the left and a one-light window to the right.

The farmhouse’s interior plan consists of three main rooms, with a heated room at each end and a former wooden-panelled dairy in the centre. The south bay, believed to be the original heated room, has four lateral beams with stopped cavetto moulding and chamfered joists with unusual diagonal, or semi-broach, stops. A stone chimney breast behind the south beam contains a large fireplace with a chamfered surround and an enormous arched monolith lintel, with a recessed area to the left that may have originally contained a spiral staircase. The former dairy has post-and-panel partitioning, a chamfered lateral beam, and chamfered joists with triangle stops. The north bay, with similar chamfered beams and joists, has a large rectangular fireplace with chamfered jambs and a monolith lintel at its north end; a spiral stone staircase to its left; and a section of muntin-and-rail panelling to the right, featuring three diminishing tiers of panels, with small inlay decoration on the topmost tier, and a board door. At first floor level, part of one cruck truss is exposed, with studwork infill.