19902

 

II  

Designated  

29/05/1998  

29/05/1998  

Cyfnant Uchaf and Barn  

 

Denbighshire  

Llanarmon-yn-Ial  

Ruthin  

Cyfnant  

318258  

357345  

 

Situated in steep valley below Moel Gyw, approached by drive running W from point about 1 km N of chapel at Rhiw Ial.  

Domestic  

 

Farmhouse with barn attached, probably C18 though perhaps with earlier core to house, which also has a later C19 wing. Regionally unusual in that the house is part faced in brick and the barn is built of brick. Barn has a date of 1781 on beam. Marked on 1848 Tithe Map for Cyfnant township as owned and occupied by William Challoner, with 47 acres (19ha).  

House and barn in single range, the barn downhill of house. House is of rubble stone with slate roof but has some brick facing to rear S side. Barn is of red brick. Slate roofs. House is in 2 sections running E-W above barn, the original section apparently contemporary with the barn, extended to W and with an added C19 S wing. N side is rubble stone, original left section has brick ridge stack and central narrow outshut containing rear wall stair, with triple casement and leaded lights. Blank wall to left of outshut, one-window range of 4-pane sashes to right, upper sash under eaves. Added upper range, also rubble stone, has door to left then matching one-window range of 4-pane sashes. Brick cambered heads to door and ground floor sash each side, similar to those in upper end of original house - presumably these were altered when addition was made. Right end is former outbuilding with large door at right end, under eaves, but entered from ground level due to slope. Right end stone stack and end-wall lean-to. S side of house has C18 painted brick wall to right, continuous with barn, rubble plinth as on barn S front. Two 4-pane sashes under eaves, 2 cambered-headed triple casements below, the left one further left than sash above. Added S wing, C19, with S end brick stack. E side of wing has door in angle to right and pair of narrow sashes each floor to left. Windowless S end and W rear. To left of wing, S side of main house steps in, probably at original W end, then door and one-window range of addition, and window and door in S end of gable-end lean-to. Barn has slightly lower roofline, red brick laid in garden wall bond. N front has big cambered-arched central entry, the arch a single ring of bricks, the jambs with some sandstone blocks, the top impost angled for perhaps arch stones that have been removed, infilled in stone with inserted stable door. 2 loops at upper level left, over one ledged door at extreme left. To right of centre, a square loft opening under eaves and a ledged door further right. S side also has large arched centre doorway, also infilled, but continuous rubble plinth appears original, suggesting that this door was not a throughway for wagons. 2 loops to left of door at mid height, 2 to right at upper level.  

House has 2 heavy beams and joisted ceiling in upper end ground floor room. Main fireplace infilled on one side. Off parlour in lower end are stairs in outshut parallel to N wall. Barn has 3-bay roof with tie-beam trusses and queen struts. One tie-beam dated apparently TH 1781. Brick inside walls, low walls flanking through passage. Shafting inside connected with former water-wheel.  

Included as a good example of a C18 vernacular farmhouse and substantial barn built in line, and notable for the early use of brick in the region. The centrepiece of a complete farmstead group.