Ty'n-y-bryn

Cadw's description

Location

The house stands on the road from Llanfihangel to Bryncrug, facing N, approximately 200m N of Pont Ystumanner.

History

The present farmhouse is a renovation or replacement in the late C18 or early C19 of an older farmhouse, the birthplace of Dr William Owen-Pughe, scholar and lexicographer, who was born here in 1759, moving away at the age of 3. He took the name of Pughe in 1806 as the result of a legacy, and was brought up in the academically stimulating household of Egryn, Llanaber. He migrated to London in 1776, where he took a major part in the life of the Welsh expatriot community, including publishing The Myrvyan Archaiology of Wales. He acquired a great knowledge of early texts, and, in 1803, he published his major work, the Geiriadur Cymraeg a Saesneg. His idiosyncratic beliefs and devoted work on the origin of the language gave rise to the notion that Welsh is the 'language of heaven'. In 1838 the house was owned by J G Scott and tenanted by Morris Roberts, the land extending to 129 acres (52ha).

Exterior

Built of squared rubble, with a replaced slate roof with deep verges. Two storeys, 4 window bays. Margin glazed door with an overlight in the second bay from the E, set in a stop-chamfered frame. Twelve-paned unhorned sash windows, and 9-pane single sashes to the upper floor. Yellow-grey slate lintels, probably from Bryneglwys Quarry. The fourth bay, beyond the western stack, probably replaces a former in-line farm building. It is wider, and has a gable stack, with an attached lean-to at the pebbledashed W end. A commemorative plaque was attached to the front wall in October 1988.

Interior

Not inspected at the time of resurvey.

Reason for designation

Included as a well-proportioned earlier C19 farmhouse retaining original doors and windows. and particularly for its association with the Welsh scholar William Owen-Pughe.