123

 

II*  

Designated  

23/06/1967  

11/08/1997  

Cyffdy Hall (including attached Coach House)  

 

Conwy  

Bro Garmon  

 

Melin-y-Coed  

281650  

360138  

 

Prominently located on a hillside overlooking the Afon Cyffdy to the E, in its own parkland approximately 1km SE of Melin-y-Coed; accessed via a farm track running SW from the lane running from Melin-y-Coed towards Nebo.  

Domestic  

 

Sub-medieval storeyed house dated externally and internally 1596 and (unusually for this date and locality) with the parlour chimney backing on the entry; an additional late C17/early C18 range to the rear formed an L-plan and some late Georgian cosmetic work appears also to have been carried out. A John Ellis is recorded as being of Cyffdy in the second half C18; he died in 1784. Flush, continuously-roofed additions to L of the primary block and to the rear belong to the mid/third-quarter C19 and relate to a programme of 'gentrification' which also included the provision of adjacent stable and coach-house ranges.  

Storeyed house of irregular plan, constructed of rendered rubble with continuous slated roof and characteristic tall, rendered chimneys; moulded capping. Off-centre entrance (R) via early C19 open porch; flat roof with simply-moulded wooden cornice and square, fluted wooden pillars. 6-panel door with finely- carved lintel above bearing the inscription 'Anno Domini 1596' (originally from within). To the L of the entrance a pair of plain, later C19 sash windows to the ground floor with an earlier C19 12-pane sash to the first floor; beyond, a further bay with 2 windows to each floor, of similar type. To the R of the entrance, single windows to both floors, as before, with a further, modern replacement sash above the entrance. A storeyed rear range returns to the E, partly enclosing a small yard. Here there are paired C19 entrances to the primary block with partly-glazed doors beneath a long slated porch canopy; above is a C19 12-pane sash window. Further, boarded door to angle of rear L-wing with 6-and 12-pane windows to R; above, a gabled, boarded loading bay. The eastern return of the L-range terminates in an unrendered C19 storeyed bow with conical roof and paired 8-pane contemporary sash windows to the first floor; modern replacements to ground floor. Further 12-pane first-floor sash to hipped-roofed southern (garden) side, together with 3 modern ground-floor windows. That to the W is contained within a later single-storey outshut projecting westwards and adjoining flush with a later C19 garden wall. This is of rubble with slate capping, some 3-4m high. The wall steps up to the W in four shallow stages of 7m each where it returns to the N in a further four stages for a similar distance, thereby forming a walled orchard/garden enclosure to the W of the house; open brick, pointed arch to S. At the wall's angle, a further, earlier stretch of rubble walling adjoins to the S and continues for some 40m where it becomes ruinous at its termination; this probably represents a surviving section of the C18 or early C19 garden wall. Adjoining the main front to the L and projecting forward towards the drive is a mid- or third-quarter C19 stable and coach-house block. This appears as a single-storey range to the higher ground occupied by the house, but is actually of 2 storeys and faces a service court stepped-down to the L and screened off from the forecourt by a stepped and coped rubble revettment wall, which adjoins to the N. The range is rectangular, of rubble (whitened to the ground floor) and with hipped, slated roof; central tin slatted louvre. Wide cart entrance with boarded and studded double doors to R and further, similar door to L with flanking 12-pane sash windows; slate lintels and projecting slate cills. Three further 12-pane sashes to first floor, equally-spaced; blocked opening to N side. Adjoining to the S a parapetted flight of 17 slate steps leads from the service court up to the rear yard; at the top, a 6-panel door gives access to the S end of the range.  

Former parlour with exposed transverse ceiling beam bearing the carved inscription: '(D)EVM:TIME: ANNO: MUNDI: 5556: ANNO: DOMINI: 1596: GOD BLESSE THES HOVS(E)'. Former hall (to L of entrance passage) with boxed, panelled ceiling beams and moulded plaster cornice; plain later C19 white marble fireplace. Moulded architraves and 6-panel doors throughout, with boxed ceiling beams and plaster cornices as before. Panelled window reveals in rear passage. In the room beyond the hall, the walls retain their block-printed Arts and Crafts design wall paper of c1890; further traces of this appear in the entrance passage. 2 late C17 or early C18 2-panel doors to rear service range, with C19 bell rack. Early C19 dog-leg stair with pine stick balusters and mahogany rail; plain, square newels, small balustraded gallery to first floor. Five further 2-panel doors to first floor, as before and a large wall section of relocated late C17 medium-field panelling to rear range; original random-width floorboards survive in part. Later C18 4-door built-in cupboard to first-floor corridor, with shaped heads to fielded panels.  

Included at Grade II* as an unusually good example of a small-scale, multi-period country house of C16 origin and retaining good external and internal character.