23848

 

II  

 

31/07/2000  

31/07/2000  

Old longhouse at Nantyfedw,,,Gelli,,,  

 

Castell-nedd Port Talbot  

Glyncorrwg  

 

Gelli  

287355  

195800  

 

Approximately 1.3km ESE of Cymmer, on high ground overlooking the Afan valley, and reached by farm roads E of A4107 or N of Croeserw.  

Domestig  

 

An early C17 longhouse. The house was superseded when a new farmhouse was built in the late C19, subsequent to which the old house was used for animal accommodation and latterly for storage.  

A one-and-a-half-storey longhouse of rubble stone with a steeply pitched roof of corrugated asbestos cement sheets on original trusses, and with a square stone ridge stack. The layout is unusual because the house is at the downhill end and the byre is at the uphill end. On the S side, the main doorway to the byre is offset to the R from the position of the stack. The doorway has a modern head. Further R is an inserted window below the eaves, with brick jamb. To the L of the main doorway is an inserted doorway with cement lintel, a hall window further L with drip stone and a doorway to the original parlour with drip stone converted from an earlier window. Against the lower gable end is a lean-to pig sty with a walled pen in front of it, added by the Dunraven Estate in the C19. Above this are ventilation strips below the apex and upper L, while upper R is a narrow window. The uphill gable end has an inserted window under a drip stone. To the rear is an original small stairlight under a drip stone. To the L the byre has an original doorway and a window to its R in a brick surround.  

The main door opens to the cow house, which has stalls inserted in the 1930s. The stubs of former loft floor beams are visible in the walls. The 4-bay roof has curved-foot principals. A round-headed doorway leads to the hall beside the fireplace. This has a chamfered timber bressumer. To its L is a round-headed doorway across the angle leading to the stone winding stair. The hall has closely spaced cross beams. Of these, 2 cross beams have stepped stops and are cut to carry joists. They therefore appear to have been re-used and brought from another site. A stone partition divides hall from parlour, but its date is uncertain and may have been inserted after the house was converted for storage use. The 3-bay roof over the house has curved-foot principals and added collars.  

Listed as a rare surviving example of a sub-medieval longhouse retaining original plan form and detail.