History

Coed y cra Uchaf is said to have been built by Ithel ap David ap Iowerth Fychan c1471. However the origin of the present house is a C16 timber-framed hall house altered in successive phases. The timber-framing was replaced by a stone house with cross-passage plan but retaining its full-height hall. Subsequently back-to-back fireplaces were inserted into the passage to create a lobby entry plan, while the interior was converted to a storeyed house with attic. Many of the extant window dressings can be seen to have been re-used from the original stone house. The conversion to a storeyed house with lobby entry is dated 1636, although the initials 'PEM' have not been identified with any known owner of the house. A rear wing housing a kitchen was added later in 2 phases, of which the earlier was probably later C17. A mullioned window in the original side wall of the rear wing, which later became a partition when the wing was widened, was relocated in the rear gable end when the house was restored in the last decade of the C20. In 1708 the house was purchased by Edward Lloyd but his family did not necessarily live there, as in 1781 the owner Howell Lloyd lived at Hafodunos in Denbighshhire. The rear wing is shown in its present form, with external steps, on the 1870 Ordnance Survey. The house was purchased by the Bankes Estate in 1911 but sold in the late C20.

Exterior

A 2-storey rubble-stone house with mullioned windows, slate roof behind coped gables, and with central stone ridge stack. A lower rear wing has a brick end stack. The main house has a symmetrical 3-window front. The central doorway has a shallow-arched lintel, probably surviving from the first stone house, and a boarded door. Above it is a tablet inscribed 'Pax Vobis, 1636 PEM'. In the lower storey are 3-light windows with transoms and ovolo mouldings. In the upper storey are 3-light windows R and L and a 2-light window to the centre employing re-used masonry. In the L gable end are a 3-light mullioned parlour window in the lower storey, with inserted window in a dressed surround to its R. The upper storey has a 3-light mullioned window and a blocked narrow attic light.

The rear has 2-light windows in each storey to the R of the lower rear wing. The rear wing has, in its R side wall, a 2-light window lower L and a 2-light casement window in the upper storey. A 3-light window with plain chamfer in the gable end of the rear wing is relocated from the partition wall in the rear wing.

The R gable end of the house has a 3-light hall window in the lower storey and 2-light upper storey window, with an attic casement under a wooden lintel. Stone steps lead to the upper storey of the L side wall of the rear wing, signifying either a granary or additional sleeping space. The L side wall of the rear wing has a replaced door upper L with 2-light casement to its R. In the lower storey is a lean-to canopy and shed and late C20 details. A monopitched shed abuts the stone stairs, and has a boarded door and casement to its L facing the rear of the house.

Interior

The lobby entry has a joisted ceiling, with hall on the R and parlour to the L. Both hall and parlour have ovolo-moulded cross beams and stop-chamfered joists and both have fireplaces with ovolo-moulded lintels. The rear wing has unworked cross beams and timber lintel to the rear fireplace. Formerly 2 rooms, the partition wall, originally an external wall with mullioned window, has been largely taken down.

A C19 staircase is L of the entrance. The upper storey retains a 3-bay roof, the principals standing on stub beams with moulded brackets. The roof is ceiled at collar-beam level. The room on the L side of the house has a stone fireplace with an unfinished Doric frieze to the lintel. On the R side is a fireplace with ovolo-moulded stone surround and cupboard to its L. This room, now subdivided to make a passage to the rear wing, retains an ovolo-moulded cross beam and stop-chamfered joists, providing evidence of a former attic storey. In the rear wing the upper-storey fireplace on stone corbels has a lintel with depressed arch. This was probably originally the lintel to the rear doorway of the cross passage and was removed when the main fireplaces were inserted in 1636. In the R gable end of the house are 2 timber beams embedded in the wall and probably belong to the original timber-framed house.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* as an especially well preserved C17 house with important earlier origins, and retaining early plan form and good early detail.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17742991

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)