95

 

II*  

Designated  

23/06/1967  

01/04/1998  

Bodtegir Old Farmhouse  

 

Conwy  

Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr  

 

Bodtegir  

300614  

348299  

 

Bodtegir is a large farm SE of Llanfihangel, reached by a farm road across open ground from the minor road above the Alwen valley leading to Maerdy and Bettws Gwerful-goch. The old house lies at an angle close to the N side of the present house.  

Domestic  

 

A farmhouse built on a derived longhouse plan, erected in the mid C17 (date of 1655 above the main entrance), by Colonel William Salesbury, Lord of Rug and Governor of Denbigh Castle, who heroically withstood the Parliamentary siege until ordered by the king to capitulate in 1646, after which he retired to Bodtegir. Abandoned as the farmhouse when a new house was built mid C19, and is now used as a farm outbuilding.  

Built of rubble stonework on large boulder foundations, the slate roof replaced c1995 with profiled metal sheeting. A little external rendering survives on the N side. Single storey, the plan now consisting of an upper end room of 2 roof bays, with a large gable fireplace altered later, and boiler, a main unheated room of 3 bays, and a cowhouse in line of 2 bays, all of one build. The upper end has a stone coped gable with stone kneelers, rising to a short chimney stack. On each side, one small window to the sides of the gable stack, and three stone ovolo moulded mullioned windows in a deep red stone, each with a moulded cornice over and iron casements, the last possibly of a later date. The cowhouse has a single central arched opening of probably later C18 date facing S. The main entrance is to the upper end room, from the S side, and has a deep unshaped stone lintel inscribed IHS / WI 16 55 S, set on megalithic jambs, all under a covered passage linking to the later farmhouse. The cowhouse is continued to the E by a carthouse, and has a later stone building in the angle with the E range of farm buildings enclosing the farmyard on that side.  

The upper end room has a central blackened queen-post truss. Iron range with later oven and boiler on either side, the N window altered internally and later blocked. Stone partition with an off-centre door leads to the main room, and has a door in the gable to the probably contemporary loft over this chamber. Heavy cross beams with long ogee chamfer stops, the floor joists replaced except for the E bay, where they are similarly chamfered and stopped. The W truss of the two has no tie, but is roughly constructed, with chamfered arch braces to the collar. Two high-set windows each side. The N wall retains some original plastering, including a decorative panel in the E bay, placed high, with a moulded surround and raised inscription reading 16 (?) 6 / IHS, the H in the form of an M carrying a Latin cross. The stone end wall has a built in timber lintel, which does not correspond to a well constructed stone jamb visible in the cowhouse. The cowhouse contains 5 double stalls and has a central queen-post truss similar to the high end truss of the house, and blackened as the other two. The E wall has an asymmetrical door leading to a further C18 carthouse.  

Included at grade II* as a dated and unusually interesting example of the derived longhouse type farmhouse with good quality detailing, including ovolo-moulded windows and internal plaster decoration; also for its associations with the royalist hero, Colonel William Salesbury, Lord of Rug and Governor of Denbigh Castle at the time of the siege in the Civil War.