Siamber Wen

Cadw's description

Location

An isolated house on the S side of the village, reached by a short track E of the S end of Well Street opposite Glan-y-wern.

History

A late C16 or early C17 house originally of 2 units. It was extended in the C18 and altered to suit contemporary taste, when sash windows were inserted under wedge lintels in typical Georgian style. Inside, the original hall was divided by inserting a partition and creating a central entrance hall with stair. A rear wing, incorporating a granary, was added probably late C19. The original sashes were replaced by large-pane sashes in the late C19. The house has been uninhabited since c1960.

Exterior

A two-and-a-half storey, 3-bay farmhouse built on a sloping site, in derelict condition with windows and doors removed and roof mostly missing. The walls are of rubble stone and what remains of the slate roof is behind coped gables on moulded kneelers. A brick stack is R of centre to the front roof slope, an external stone stack to the R gable end is heightened in brick, while a lateral hall stack is to the rear. The front faces W and its centre and L-hand bays comprise the original house and are separated by a full-height joint from the R-hand bay at the uphill end, which is C19. Windows have wedge lintels and stone sills, while some of the jambs have inserted brickwork. The window joinery is missing. The doorway L of centre has a brick segmental head and a former doorway blocked with brickwork is above it.

The L (downhill) gable end has a 3-light mullioned hall window (one mullion missing) with plain chamfer. Above it is a segmental-headed window retaining the frame of a tripartite sash. The attic has a 3-light mullioned window blocked with brick. The rear is dominated by the massive projecting hall stack set back from the downhill end. To its L is a window under a wedge lintel in the upper storey and a wood lintel of a blocked former opening below it. Immediately L of the hall stack is the wooden frame of an inserted half dormer. A lower rear wing on the L (uphill) side of the rear obscures a small upper-storey window in a dressed stone surround. The wing is rubble stone with an end brick stack. In its gable end are stone steps to a wood lintelled doorway. The side wall facing downhill has frames of large-pane sash windows in both storeys, and a boarded door to the R.

Interior

The original hall comprises 2 chamfered cross beams, of which the beam over the hall fireplace has collapsed, but the other beam has survived because a partition was built beneath it to create an entrance hall. The entrance hall has a simple quarter-turn wooden stairs.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding condition, as a sub-medieval house with C18 remodelling, retaining historic character.