13387

 

II  

Designated  

16/10/1995  

16/10/1995  

Barn at Cefn Isa  

 

Flintshire  

Cilcain  

 

Cefn  

318380  

366129  

 

Situated 1.1 km NE of Cilcain, reached by a series of by-roads running S off the A541 to Cilcain.  

Agriculture and Subsistence  

 

Cefn Isa was a substantial farm with buildings of C17 date, and was probably `Kevn' mentioned in Edward Lhwyd's list of notable houses in the parish of 1707 when Thomas Wynne was the occupant. This barn is the largest building of the complex. The gable end walls have both been rebuilt and a break in the masonry indicates where the walls were raised from the level from which the cruck trusses sprang. The mixture of truss types suggests a major remodelling perhaps in the late C18 or early C19 but the external masonry suggests that the cruck trusses are in their original positions rather than being reused. The opposed openings were blocked C20, probably at the same time the interior was partially plastered and glazing introduced to the ventilation slits.  

Rubble with slate roof and rubble gable parapets with mortar capping. Opposed openings, now blocked; W elevation has offset door in blocked opening, window to right beneath eaves and a series of ventilation slits. To the right is a substantial rubble buttress. E elevation has offset door in blocked opening and a series of ventilation slits. Breaks in the masonry visible at gable ends and in the walls where they have been raised. Gable end to road has a rubble plinth.  

5 bays with earlier C20 half-height partition at N end. From the S end: bay 1 has simple tie-beam truss with angle struts, typical of the area; bay 2 has a paired truss, the southernmost as bay 1 perhaps introduced to strengthen the roof at this point. The northernmost truss is a raised cruck with replaced E blade with tie-beam and collar which has been altered with the introduction of a crudely made collar and king post. Bay 3 has an upper cruck with collar and tie-beam, bay 4 has another simple tie-beam truss as before. Purlins include altered and replaced members but some are scarfed.  

Listed as a monumental stone barn containing cruck trusses perhaps dating from C17.