Coed-y-foel

Cadw's description

Location

½ km south east of Derwen Church.

History

Coed-y-foel is a hall house probably of the C16, with four surviving cruck frames out of five. The upper unit (to north west) is separated from the hall unit and into two rooms by post and panel partitions. The present main entrance is probably the original one, at the lower end of the hall. The house was later given stone walls and a chimney with back-to-back fireplaces. A reported date of 1633 (not found) may refer to the chimney insertion. The building is said at one time to have served as a barn, but by the C19 it was in use as two thatched cottages, probably divided at the chimney. It is now restored as one house and has an upper floor throughout. The Tithe Survey (1842) shows it as a cottage under Pentre farm.

Coed-y-foel was illustrated in the Royal Commission Inventory of Denbighshire as a representative farm labourer's cottage of the county, with an accompanying photograph (1914).

Exterior

A restored single storey thatched house in rubble stonework, informally rendered or thickly whitewashed. Battered, rougher plinth stonework shows at the south east end. The (front) entrance is nearly centrally on the north east side, with three windows to left two of which are modern but the middle one of which originated as a doorway. There are two windows to the right of the door, one of which is much enlarged. A thatched porch has also been added. Double modern French doors at rear (to south west) with four windows, irregularly placed.

The thatch was originally plain but has been completely restored with decorative laced ridging and includes a dormer to front and four dormers to the rear. The short chimney stack at the apex has been rebuilt.

Interior

A house of four bays. Originally single storey, but now with an upper floor throughout. All four surviving cruck trusses are exposed internally.

The plan has a hall unit centrally with a service unit downslope to the left and two inner rooms to the right. The hall and service units have later fireplaces back-to-back sharing a chimney. At the upper end of the hall is a fine post-and-panel partition with moulded arrisses. This had twin doorways to the inner rooms. A similar partition but without the moulded arrisses separates the inner rooms longitudinally; one post from the latter partition has been removed to create a doorway between them and to close one of the doorways from the hall.

Reason for designation

A minor hall house retaining much of its early carpentry including an unusually well preserved set of cruck trusses.