22405

 

II  

Designated  

30/09/1999  

30/09/1999  

Caeronwy-isaf  

 

Gwynedd  

Llandwrog  

Caernarfon  

Nantlle  

251864  

354454  

 

Located across fields in a narrow wooded valley approximately 400m south-west of Hafod Caeronwy; low rubblestone wall and slate path to front (west side).  

Domestic  

 

Shown on the 1840 Tithe Map, the present Caeronwy-isaf is likely to have been built as a pair of quarrymens' cottages shortly after the opening of the nearby Fron and Old Braich Slate Quarry in 1830. The presence of the contemporary cowhouse opposite shows that the occupants also participated in subsistence agriculture. The topography of the site and its relationship to (Hafod) Caeronwy and Caeronwy-uchaf possibly suggest, however, an earlier origin for Caeronwy-isaf as a satellite steading from the original Caeronwy and thus a relic of an earlier pattern of upland settlement in this area. Disused at time of Survey.  

Long single-storey building, aligned roughly north-south, each unit consisting of 2-room plan to cottage with outbuilding between the two and another attached to south gable end, all under continuous roof line. Roughly coursed rubblestone with traces of limewash to front (west) elevation; slate roof. Each cottage has 4-paned sashes with slate cills to left and right of slightly offset doorway, that to right cottage deeply recessed; 4 purple brick stacks with corbelled capping, one integral to left gable end, 2 centrally to ridge (with outbuilding between) and one to right at junction with south outbuilding (straight joint at this point). Rear has wide opening (? for cart) to far left, 12-paned sashes to left and right and top-hung window to centre.  

Interior not accessible at time of Survey.  

Included as a largely unaltered pair of early C19 quarrymens' cottages, possibly of earlier origins, built in the local vernacular tradition and forming an important component in the distinctive mixed industrial and agricultural landscape of the area. The paired plan with shared outbuilding between the cottages suggests a formal building process rather than of informal encroachment.