19552

 

II  

Designated  

20/03/1998  

20/03/1998  

1 and 2 Moel y Mab  

 

Powys  

Forden with Leighton and Trelystan  

Forden  

Moel y Mab  

324739  

305652  

 

Approximately 0.6km SE of Leighton church at the foot of Moel y Mab. The house overlooks the Severn Valley and reached by a private road on the W side of a minor road between Leighton and Trelystan.  

Domestic  

 

A house of early C18 (a dormer is dated 1720) which was enlarged and divided into 2 dwellings in the latter half of the C19, probably as cottages for estate workers. The earlier house probably comprises the 2 units of 2 Moel y Mab (to which a lean-to was added when the building was divided), which has a slightly lower roof line. 1 Moel y Mab was added or enlarged with an outshut to the rear C19. C19 modifications were undertaken as part of the Leighton Estate, which had been acquired by John Naylor, a Liverpool banker, in 1846-47. Naylor embarked on an ambitious programme of building, notably Leighton Hall, church and Leighton Farm, all designed by WH Gee and largely completed by the mid 1850s. Naylor continued to extend and improve the Estate until his death in 1889, during which time he built a number of labourers’ dwellings. Naylor’s grandson, Captain J.M. Naylor, sold Leighton Hall and the Estate in 1931.  

One-and-a-half storeys, of random rubble with brick dressings, renewed slate roof. Two-stage brick stacks to L of centre and to R. Three-window front with dormers to L and R having 2-light round-headed mullioned windows, while dormer in centre is timber-framed with 2-light casement, and has 1720 carved in relief on the tie beam. Fretted barge boards with pendant finials to dormers, and to plain centrally-placed porch of brick. Ground floor has 2-light round-headed mullioned windows with brick hood moulds. 1 Moel y Mab occupies unit to L. It is entered from L side wall which has a doorway to R in brick surround. Casement windows under flat arches and with hood moulds in centre and in attic. A third, similar window is beneath the apex of the roof (and is now blocked). The gable has fretted barge boards. Outshut to rear of random rubble. 2 Moel y Mab occupies units to centre and to R. The gable to R is of brick and has fretted barge boards. Brick lean-to at the rear with 2 timber-framed dormers, with 2-light casements and barge boards similar to front.  

Not inspected (November 1996).  

A good example of an estate worker's cottage with earlier origins, where an earlier vernacular building was modified in the context of C19 estate development. 1 and 2 Moel y Mab are an integral part of the Leighton Estate, an exceptional example of high-Victorian estate development. It is remarkable for the scale and ambition of its conception and planning, the consistency of its design, the extent of its survival, and is the most complete example of its type in Wales.