1 Gelli Fawr

Cadw's description

Location

On the S side of a lane which runs NW from a roundabout on the A5151. The house, now divided, is set back from the road with long front gardens. To the rear, a boundary wall divides the rear gardens and joins a former stable. No 1 is to the L.

History

Gelli was a grange of Basingwerk Abbey, the lands granted by Edward I. The building is said to have contained a cell and a chapel, apparently for performing divine service to the Abbot. Remains of a medieval hall and cross-passage survive, along with a probable gallery and chamber (or chapel) at 1st floor level. The doorway and several pairs of arched lights belong to this phase. After the reformation, the building was converted to a farmhouse, and is illustrated in a publication of 1796. The central doorway and openings to the R are as now, but to the L an external staircase led to an upper storey doorway, next to which was a lateral stack followed by a small window. A 3-light segmental headed window at the E end was replaced in the 1950s by an arched window of Gothic character. The house had been divided into 2 dwellings by 1871.

Interior

The front room was the outer or service room of the sub-medieval house, to the R of the cross-passage (now in 1 Gelli Fawr). To the rear is a room of the C18-19, with a late C20 extension behind. The current entrance leads into the kitchen in the modern extension. There is also a half-glazed panelled door which leads into the front room. Inside this room is a blocked doorway offset to the L of the front with a Tudor-arched head and large stone jambs. The ceiling has 1 spine beam with narrow chamfer and pegs, which may have held a partition, and plain joists. The small window in the E end has splayed reveals. The S wall of the room contains a small stone fireplace, which previously had a stone head, now covered over. On the rear side of the fireplace, an opening was found in the wall, possibly of an early external window. There used to be a staircase in the front room, now replaced by one in the addition. The upper storey is open to the roof, and a corridor runs along the E side of the house, with bathroom and bedrooms off to the L. A large arched-brace truss is visible against the E gable end of the front range, and there are 3 pairs of purlins, those at the top replaced. The pointed E window has splayed reveals and a wooden lintel. To the L is a further arched-brace truss divided by a partition wall between 2 bedrooms. In the front bedroom, against the front wall, is a doorway with Tudor arched head (relating to the external doorway).

Reason for designation

Listed grade II* as an exceptionally fine house with medieval origins and a complex history, which retains sub-medieval character and detail.