Glyn Farmhouse

Cadw's description

Location

Set back from the road down a track, towards the bottom of the Nant Valley.

History

Externally, the farmhouse appears to be largely of mid-late C18 date, with extensions dated 1887. Internally however, the farmhouse and its attached outbuildings appear to have their origins in a late C16 or early C17 house which has been successively extended and remodelled. The southern bay of the main range (now an outbuilding) incorporates a plaster roundel dated 1620 over what appears to be a first floor fireplace in a timber framed partition wall and other architectural fragments are consistent with this period. The main house may also incorporate an earlier core: its internal detail suggests a C17 rather than a C18 date. It seems likely that the original building included the southern bay of the present range, and was extended northwards in the C17, the extension refronted as the main dwelling during the C18, and further extended to the N in 1887.

Interior

The wall which now divides the outbuildings from the main part of the house has exposed timber framing in its S-facing gable with a massive tie beam and collar truss, possibly incorporating the remains of a fireplace. A simple moulded plaster roundel is dated 1620. On the opposite side of this wall, in the main part of the house, is a coat of arms in low relief, possibly stone, and perhaps also early C17. The principal rooms of the house have deep fireplaces with plain chamfered bressumers (arched to the main room), and heavy axial beams with run-out stops.

Reason for designation

One of the few buildings in the area to pre-date the development of Colwyn Bay as a resort, ostensibly a typical example of local vernacular building, the house and outbuildings are of particular interest for their early origins and for the quality of the surviving internal detail.