140

 

II*  

Designated  

29/03/1974  

11/08/1997  

Soflen Farmhouse  

 

Conwy  

Bro Garmon  

 

Moel Trefriw  

282565  

357196  

 

Located approximately 1.3km NW of Nebo, immediately E of an unclassified lane running NW from Nebo to join the A470.  

Domestic  

 

Late C16 or early C17 sub-medieval, storeyed, cross-passage and end-chimney house. Apparently in the ownership of the Morris family in the mid C18; its early history is otherwise mysterious. Minor alterations of the third-quarter C19, including the addition to the rear of a single-storey service block.  

Storeyed house of rubble construction, partly on boulder foundations and set gable -end into a slope. End chimneys with original weathercoursing and plain capping; slate roof with tiled ridge. Off-centre entrance (to L) with cyclopean Tudor-arched lintel; candle-niche within internal porch, modern part-glazed door. Flanking modern tripartite cross-windows to original openings with lowered cills; C19 slatestone lintels, currently whitened. Two 2-light modern casement windows to first floor with lintels as before; projecting slate cills throughout. Primary opposing entrance to rear with pegged oak, stopped-chamfered doorcase with Tudor arch; boarded door. To the L a 12-pane C19 casement window with a similar, smaller one above; small, contemporary light with C19 4-pane window to first-floor at R. 2 further casement windows to ground floor of road-facing (L) gable. Adjoining to the rear, R of the entrance, a C19 single-storey gabled range, construction as before; end chimney with plain cornice and weathercoursing, contemporary pots. Boarded entrance to L with recessed 16-pane casement to R.  

Cross-passage plan, remarkably with both original post-and-panel partitions surviving. That to the R, leading to the former hall, has a central Tudor-arched entrance with boarded door; that to the L has twin entrances to the centre, that to the L with Tudor arch and that to the R with ogee head and original plank door. The dividing wall between these is also a primary post-and-panel partition. Stopped-chamfered ceiling beams and joists throughout and wide, stopped-chamfered, 5-centred-arched bressummer to hall fireplace; to the R of this a boarded cupboard, the site of the original stone winding stair.  

Listed Grade II* for the special historic interest of its origins as a sub-medieval gentry house and for its well-preserved original interior features; one of the finest regional examples of its type.