Shifna-hyr Farmhouse

Cadw's description

Location

Approximately 0.75km NW of Gwysaney and reached by farm roads from the main house or on the N side of a minor road between the A541 and B5123.

History

Of a C17 house only the massive stone stack and part of the gable end have survived. The remainder of the house was demolished and a new house built in its place by Philip Davies Cooke as the home farm of the Gwysaney Estate, echoing the style of the earlier C17 house with mullioned windows and gable finials. The present house is shown on the 1839 Tithe map with a T-shaped plan. An additional wing and attached pigsties, conforming to the present plan of the house, are shown on the 1870 Ordnance Survey.

Gwysaney was built in 1603 but the historic character of the estate is derived principally from its redevelopment and enlargement after Philip Davies-Cooke inherited Gwysaney in 1821.

Exterior

A large 2-storey farmhouse comprising an entrance range with gabled cross wing to its R, incorporated into the gable end of which is the gable end and stack of the original house. This T-shaped plan comprises the house as shown in 1839. A wing at right angles further R was added by 1870. The house is rubble stone with larger quoins and slate roof. The symmetrical 2-window main range has a coped gable to the L with stone finials to the eaves and apex, and a central brick ridge stack. It has 3-light mullioned windows and hood moulds. A central boarded door has an overlight, above which is a tablet bearing the arms of the Davies-Cooke family. In the gable end of the cross wing to the R the original stack has a tall square shaft and is partly rebuilt. On the R side of the base is a 2-light window. The gable line of the original house is lower than the present house, and has an integral buttress on the R side. In its R side wall the cross wing has a horizontal-sliding sash in the upper storey above an added half-glazed lean-to porch, inside which are a replaced door and window. The R-hand wing has a horizontal sliding sash in the upper storey under a stone lintel.

The L gable end of the main range is roughcast. The rear, built into a steep bank, has a pivoting light beneath the eaves, L of which is an added one-and-a-half-storey outshut with large quoins, a horizontal-sliding sash to the attic and boarded door below. In its lateral wall the outshut has a replaced window beneath a stone lintel. The gabled cross wing has a brick end stack and against the gable end are monopitched former pig sties, with walled pens (slate roofs partly missing). In its side wall are horizontal sliding sashes in both storeys. The R-hand wing, in its rear elevation, has a boarded up window in the lower storey.

Interior

Not inspected.

Reason for designation

Listed as a well-preserved C19 farmhouse with strong estate character and detail, and for its contribution to the historic character of the Gwysaney Estate.