Maerdy Farmhouse

Maerdy Farmhouse is a substantial late 17th-century and early 18th-century farmhouse of considerable architectural merit. The building is constructed of brick with a steeply pitched slate roof and composition tile roof to the rear wing. Brick chimneystacks are a notable feature: the southeast gable stack has a broad base with recessed brick flue, while the adjoining wing has a small lateral stack and end-stack.

The farmhouse presents a south front facing the farmyard, arranged as a two-and-a-half storey range. The late 17th-century house forms a range at right angles to the right, with an early 18th-century wing facing south. The late 17th-century house displays English bond brickwork with a plain string course running above the window lintel on the ground floor. The attic storey features a small gabled dormer with 3+3 pane casement windows and boarded head. The first floor has a segmental arched window with 3+3+3 pane casement. At ground floor level, positioned in the angle between the house and wing, stands an open wooden porch with a hipped slate roof, supported at an angle by a slender timber post with diagonal wooden cross-struts to open side panels. To the right of the entrance doorway is an 18th-century 2-light mullion and transom window with flat arch and skewback lintel. The southeast gable of the house shows a string course at eaves level and two blocked segmental arched window openings on the first floor. A single-storey brick lean-to scullery with slate roof adjoins the ground floor. The scullery contains a large off-centre lateral chimneystack with square base, slate offsets and tall rendered brick flue. To the left of this stack is a small square 2-pane window; a projecting chimneystack with square base follows; to the right is a boarded door with small-pane window.

The early 18th-century wing is constructed of Flemish bond brickwork and is irregular in plan. The attic contains two gabled dormers with 3+3 pane windows. The first floor has three 2-light mullion and transom windows with segmental arched heads and shallow stone sills, with similar windows on the ground floor. The northeast elevation of the original range shows a segmental arched window with 4+4+4 panes on the first floor; the corresponding ground-floor window is enclosed by a partly collapsed pentice. To the right projects a stone gable of a lofted cider house. On the ground floor to the left is a doorway with timber lintel and a 6+6 pane casement to the lean-to. The west elevation, a gable-end of the original house, displays string courses and segmentally headed windows as before. The rear wall of the wing has similar windows, two on the first floor and one on the ground floor.

Internally, entry is to a lobby of the late 17th-century house. The plan follows a two-unit arrangement with a centre staircase separating two ground-floor rooms. The kitchen, to the right, has stone flags, chamfered ceiling beams, a 17th-century mullion window with ogee moulding, and a fireplace with side cupboard and panelled wooden overmantel. A very fine late 17th-century dog-leg stair with winders features a closed string and pierced splat balusters; the square angle-beaded newel post has attached half balusters and ball finial. The 18th-century wing has windows with splayed reveals and folding shutters with fielded panels. The parlour on the ground floor of the 18th-century wing is reached by a short corridor with two smaller rooms opening to the right. Doors throughout have fielded panels: a 4-panel door to the parlour and 2-panel doors to the side rooms. The parlour contains a chamfered ceiling beam and dado rail. On each side of the fireplace are tall 18th-century walk-in cupboards with wooden cornices, fielded panels and 2-panel doors. On the first floor of the 18th-century wing, the bedroom over the parlour has similar fireplace cupboards. In the 17th-century house, the bedroom over the kitchen contains a good 17th-century creased door and a 19th-century cast-iron grate. A large habitable attic is fitted with collar trusses and two tiers of trenched purlins.