Coed Cefn Farmhouse

Cadw's description

Location

About 3km NNE of Raglan and 1km E of Tregare church, on a sheltered and low-lying site off the W side of a minor road leading N to Pen-yr-hoel from the minor road between Tregare and Dingestow

History

A farmhouse with late-medieval origins, perhaps as a single-cell, 1-storey timber framed structure, enlarged and extended in the C17 and at later dates, including C19 conversion as a vicarage, when an extension at the S end linked it to a barn which was then converted for domestic use. Restoration in the 1990s uncovered various early features.

Exterior

A long rambling 2-storeyed building with an L-shaped plan, formed by an original house on a N-S axis and successive extensions to the S, with the former barn as a W wing to the S end. Built of rendered rubble painted white, with blue slate roofs on differing levels and C19 red brick chimneys. In the C19 conversion a "front door" with entrance hall was built on the E side of the S end, approached by a path from the S, the original farmhouse being relegated to a service wing; but the present entrance front is towards the former farmyard on the W side. The higher N part of the main range, which has 4 1st-floor windows, has a large square ridge chimney stack offset slightly S of the centre, identifying 2 unequal bays of the interior which are the earliest elements of the building. The openings are irregular, including a segmental-headed doorway offset left of centre, another doorway and 3 small windows to the left, 2 larger windows to the right (casements of 3 and 2 lights), and 4 casements at 1st floor (2 each side of the ridge chimney). There is another chimney at the N gable. A lower 2-storey, 2-window range to the right has a pentice roof over the ground floor, protecting a window and the present main entrance; 2 small windows at 1st-floor; and a tall ridge chimney. To the right is a full-height lean-to with a carried-down roof, linked to a similar lean-to projected from the N side of the converted barn wing. The rear (E side) has a continuous elevation, irregularly fenestrated with various casements and includes 2 doorways and a tall stairwindow to the C19 extension.

Interior

The principle features of interest are in the two N bays, the 1st of which appears to represent (it has been suggested) the original single-storey hall-house and the 2nd a C17 parlour extension. They are separated by a deep chimney stack with a connecting lobby to the W and a staircase to the E. The room to the N (which had been converted into a dairy and larder, and is now the kitchen) has chamfered lateral beams, and the only other surviving evidence of its probable original form is a lobby in the NE corner (now enclosed by a recently-restored stud-and-panel partition) which has an old oak Tudor-arched inner doorway (apparently representing the former gable-end lobby entry beside a chimney stack subsequently removed). In the parlour to the S (now the dining room) the chimney stack contains a restored fireplace with stone jambs and a heavy oak lintel. To the left (W) is a massive oak doorcase to the lobby; to the right, a straight flight of wooden stairs. The ceiling is of very broad boards carried on 4 stop-chamfered lateral beams: the first is against the chimney-breast wall, and the second has long vacant mortices of former stud-and-panel partitioning at each end, and the mortice of a former post in the centre (suggesting that there was a cross-passage in this position before the chimney stack was inserted, with a pair of service rooms on it S side). At 1st floor timber-framing is now exposed in the W wall: 4 heavy studs mounted on a rail which appears to represent the wallplate of a former 1-storey wall, with the head of a wall-post visible beneath its N end.
Otherwise, the only other features of interest are those associated with the C19 vicarage phase: the S end contains an entrance hall with a Victorian "Jacobethan" stair, a good chimney piece in the same style, and ex situ genuine Jacobean panelling dated "1661 TW" (brought in from Penrhos church in 1847).

Reason for designation

Listed for its late-medieval and C17 origins as well as for its good interior.