Hafod Lwyfog

Cadw's description

Location

Located on the SE side of the Gwynant valley near the upper (NE) end of Llyn Gwynant, and accessed from the road via a short track; set behind low rubble forecourt walls with slate-flagging in front and a steep slope to the rear.

History

Medieval gentry house, of C16 origin. Dendrochronological investigation has provided felling dates of 1527-62 for principal rafters, a date refined to 1541-50 for a collar. The site may have been occupied previously, as there is a reference to Havod Llwyvoc in the Ministers Accounts of 1536, and was partly rebuilt or refitted c1638. The birthplace of Sir John Williams (fl 1603-27), Goldsmith to King James Ist, and also home of Evan Llwyd (1600-78), for whom the alterations of the second phase were carried out. The latter was High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire in 1670 as, subsequently, was his son William Llwyd. The siting and orientation of the house are typical of sub-medieval houses in this region and it would have been high up above the original valley road before the new turnpike was created. The provision of a dairy/cellar below the parlour represents a departure from the conventional regional plan-form of the end-chimney storeyed house.

Exterior

Sub-medieval storeyed end-chimney house. 2-storeyed, 3-window range. Of rubble with whitened facade, on boulder foundations and with renewed slate roof; flush end chimneys with weathercoursing and plain capping. Off-centre entrance (to R) with ovolo-moulded doorframe head (replaced sides) and a C20 boarded door with decorative ironwork. To the R of the entrance are two C19 4-pane sashes in original openings; to the L is a 2-pane sash in a small, primary opening, with a tripartite sash window beyond (a modern replacement of a late C19 original). The first floor has three plain C19 sashes, all in primary openings, with two further, blocked openings; slate sills throughout. Slate-stepped access to basement room (former dairy) to the R of the entrance. Horizontal 4-light C19 window to the ground-floor rear. The first floor has a 2-light mid C19 casement to the L, with metal lattice framing. At the centre is an original 6-light wooden mullioned and transomed window with plain glazing; further plain glazed window to R.
Adjoining the house to the R is a single-storey, 2-bay C19 cartshed. Construction as before, with plain dividing pier between the bays; lattice window to the R gable end.

Interior

2 unit plan with central service room. The interior retains its primary stopped-chamfered beams and grooved joists, and the original post-and-panel partitions survive substantially intact, most with grooved decoration to the external faces and around openings. The ground floor has a small entrance lobby with post-and-panel partitioning and a (former) pantry beyond; this has an open upper section, above its partition, with turned balusters. To the L of the lobby is the former hall. This has a large end fireplace with stopped-chamfered bressummer; slate-flagged floor. In the corner is a part-enclosed early C19 dog-leg stair of grained pine with elm treads and risers. The former parlour, to the R of the lobby, has a C19 pine door with re-used C17 decorative iron hinges. Ovolo-moulded cross-beam inscribed ELL/E 1638 (Evan Lloyd edificavit) and a plain, contemporary plaster shield above a C19 fireplace. In the L corner of the gable end is a fine wide stone newel stair, giving the primary access from the parlour (unusually) to the first floor. In the opposing corner is a further, early C19 pine dog-leg stair within a wall recess; this probably occupies the space originally taken by the privy cupboards on both floors.
All four post-and-panel partitions survive to the first floor, with primary openings and mostly original boarded doors with plain ironwork. A further section of partitioning hides the stair access. The main end chambers have similar shields in relief plasterwork above their fireplaces; these were presumably originally heraldically polychromed. Further ovolo-moulded main beam to the chamber above the parlour (R). Four-bay primary roof with pegged oak collar trusses, 2 with segmental doorway heads cut out of the collars.

Reason for designation

Listed Grade II* for its special interest as a C17 storeyed house with mid-C16 origins and an especially well preserved interior.