281

 

II*  

Designated  

06/11/1962  

18/07/2001  

Ty Isaf  

 

Flintshire  

Trelawnyd and Gwaenysgor  

Rhyl  

Gwaenysgor  

307588  

380933  

 

At the S end of the village, in a farmyard on the W side of a minor road between Trelawnyd and Gwaenysgor.  

Domestic  

 

Dated 1651 and originally probably housing 2 dwellings within a single range of double depth plan. Two sundials were subsequently added, one of which is dated 1734 while the other is probably contemporary. In the C19 minor insertions were made in the exterior when the house appears to have become a single dwelling.  

A 2-storey farmhouse of rubble stone with double-pitched slate roof behind coped gabled on moulded kneelers and pebble-dashed ridge stacks. Original mullioned windows are mostly retained and have plain chamfers and simple drip stones. The symmetrical double-gabled front faces S. Its central doorway has a Tudor-headed lintel inscribed '1651 IE', a projecting arched stone canopy, and a C19 panelled door. It is flanked by 3-light mullioned windows, except the window upper R which is replaced by a 3-light wooden casement. Above the doorway is a window replaced in a lintelled opening inserted in the C19. Above the drip stone of the R-hand upper window is a well-preserved stone sundial with gnomon. The R side wall has a 3-light window in the lower storey and 2-light window above it, both offset to the L end. The centre and R comprise the probable secondary dwelling. Its original doorway, with Tudor head and dated inscription similar to the front doorway, is at the R end, but was converted to a window (since replaced) when a doorway under a segmental stone head was inserted immediately L of it in the early C19. This doorway retains a boarded door. Further L, lighting the hall of the secondary dwelling, are 2-light and 3-light windows. The upper storey has three 2-light windows, but without drip stones. The 3-window L side wall of the house retains 3-light mullioned windows lower centre and upper R, and a 2-light window upper L. The other windows are replaced by 3-light wooden casements, and a doorway is inserted to the L in place of an earlier window. Only the lower-storey windows have drip stones. To the L of centre in the upper storey is a well-preserved stone sundial dated 1734, with gnomon. The rear of the house has two 2-light windows in the upper storey and an added projection below.  

Internally the main house probably originally had an L-shaped plan comprising the 2-room front of hall and parlour, with another room behind. The secondary dwelling occupied the other wing to form a coherent, tightly planned block. The original secondary dwelling retains a hall fireplace with timber lintel. The room on the L side of the rear, part of the main house and now and perhaps always a kitchen, retains a fireplace with stop-chamfered stone jambs and lintel. The interior detail is otherwise C19, when plaster ceilings were added concealing the original beams. A straight stair with plain balusters is inside the main entrance in what was probably part of the original hall that was later partitioned. The interior also retains stone-paved floors and C19 boarded and panel doors.  

Listed grade II* as a fine mid C17 farmhouse with good early detail, an unusual layout with symmetrical gabled front and double-depth plan, and incorporating a secondary dwelling.