Byrllysg

Cadw's description

Location

Set back, along a private track, from the SE side of Ffordd y Briws c.1km ENE from Coed Ystumgwern.

History

One of a number of sub medieval houses in the area, dating from the later C16, a regional house type of 2 units with end chimneys and cross passage plan, originally with hall to one side of the passage and parlour and service room to the other. The house was extensively altered in the mid C18 (dated 1761) and the orientation of the building reversed, the rear of the house then becoming the principal elevation, with dormer windows added to the upper storey.
Recorded in the tithe apportionment of the parish, 1841, as a holding of just over 54 acres(22 hectares); owned by the Honorable Edward Mostyn Lloyd Mostyn and occupied by John Owen.

Exterior

C16 farmhouse, a 2-storey 2-unit plan, built of mortared rubble masonry with large stones as quoins and lintels. Slate roof with stone parapet copings on rough stone kneelers; tall gable stacks with dripstones and capping.
The principal elevation now faces down the Coed y Byrllysg valley to the SW, a 3-window range with openings towards the centre of the range and with central doorway. The door is half glazed and the windows are timber casements, the upper floor windows set in gabled half dormers that break the eavesline; the central dormer bears the date 1761 inscribed in the stone to L of the window. The footing at the base of the wall to the R of the doorway suggests that they may have been some rebuilding, probably when the building was re-aligned.
The rear elevation (originally the front) also has a doorway towards the centre, with the original doorway to the L, now a partially blocked opening with a window in the upper part. The upper floor has 2 widely spaced small timber casement windows directly under the eaves.
At the R (SE) gable is a lean to addition, now with a roof of profiled metal sheeting, with dripcourse above the present roof level and single doorway at the L end of the SE wall.

Interior

The interior retains the original timber framed partitions of the cross passage, and one of the original segmental headed doorways; to the R is evidence for another doorway, now blocked. At the NW end of the house there is a blocked in inglenook fireplace at ground floor level, the fireplace at the opposite end has been removed but the upper floor has a massive fireplace which has been partially blocked and new fireplaces inserted into the reduced openings several times.

Reason for designation

Listed as a C16 farmhouse of characteristic regional type which retains traditional character and many original features, of additional interest for the manner in which it was remodelled in the C18.