5 Tal Gae

Cadw's description

Location

Located on south-west side of Tal Gae, set back from the road with lawn in front and C20 houses behind; attached to the left end of the original cottage is a large C20 'chalet' bungalow addition.

History

The cottage is likely to have been built in the early C19, its occupants probably deriving their livelihood from subsistence agriculture and work in the nearby Penrhyn Slate Quarry which was rapidly expanding at this period. This cottage belongs to the earliest phase of the quarry before the Estate began to provide land for and control the erection of cottages by its workers.

Exterior

Single-storey building of 2-room linear plan, aligned roughly east-west. Painted roughly coursed rubblestone; slate roof. Front has 16-paned horizontal sliding sash windows on either side of offset boarded door; large integral end stack with slate drips to right and small C19 rooflight to left.

Interior

Interior not accessible at time of survey.

Reason for designation

Included, notwithstanding the prominent C20 addition, as a well-preserved early C19 quarryman's/smallholder's cottage, built in the local vernacular tradition of the area. The building is a typical feature in the landscape of small fields and scattered cottages, characteristic of the upland settlement pattern associated with the development of slate quarrying in this region, albeit that in this case the context has been changed by extensive C20 housing in the immediate vicinity.