Old house at Llechdwnni

Cadw's description

Location

Llechdwnni Farm is 2.2km SE of Llandyfaelog, reached by a short farm road on the N side of a minor road. The old house is on the N side of the new farmhouse.

History

A C17 house, probably with earlier origins and with evidence of stone re-used from an earlier house. An SE wing, shown on the 1890 Ordnance Survey, has been taken down. The house was replaced by a new dwelling in 1854.

Exterior

A rubble-stone 2-storey house with slate roof and large square stone stack to the R, external stack offset in the L gable end. The 2-window front has an offset doorway under a shouldered head. Metal-framed windows are in the lower storey. In the upper storey are 2 small wood-framed windows (the R-hand obscured by vegetation). In the uphill gable end is a first-floor doorway, its threshold missing. The Tudor head is set under a broader relieving arch, suggesting an earlier wider opening and that the masonry has been re-used. In the downhill gable end, the site of the former E wing, is a doorway upper R under a wooden lintel with brick dressings. The rear has an outshut, its catslide roof partly collapsed.

Interior

A cross passage retains its original cobbled floor. It opens directly to the hall on the R side, which retains a central stop-chamfered beam and a fireplace lintel. From the inside it can be seen that the downhill gable end is an insertion, suggesting that the house was previously an open-hearth hall house. The upper storey has a 5-bay roof of collar-beam trusses with scarfed feet and 2 rows of purlins.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding its present condition, as a rare surviving C17 house in the district retaining early character and detail.