The two farms of Penlandoppa and Penlanscubor, as their names suggest were situated at the `top of' (pen) the `lan' represented not by the present ffridd wall (NPRN: 405565), but by an earlier boundary (NPRN: 406296) which also linked with the farm of Troed y Rhiw Ucha (NPRN: 405539).

The two farms are linked in many ways, they took their water from the same stream the channel for which was artificially cut running through the site, and have obvious similarities - each had a central corridor, with an enclosed `garden' area containing (relatively late?) cultivation furrows, and another enclosure without such features. The two farms were also linked by a central rear enclosure, 107m long by 52m wide, the southern boundary of which formed part of the early boundary (NPRN: 405952). It is not clear whether this rear enclosure was an early feature, once shared by the two farms, or whether it was added at a later stage when only one of them was occupied. The root stores within this enclosure (NPRN: 405552) appear to be a later feature; the edges of some look fresh enough to suggest that they were dug long after both farms were in ruins.

Documentary evidence indicates that at different points in their life, these two farms functioned as either two separate units or as one. They formed part of the extensive Crosswood (Trawsgoed) estate associated with the Vaughan family (later Earls of Lisburne). Penlandoppa occurs in virtually every Crosswood rent roll, from 1546 (National Library of Wales (NLW): CW I, 4) onwards. The name Penlanscubor, by contrast, does not make its appearance before a lease of 1742 (NLW: CW I, 823). Evidently in its later life it was listed under Penlandoppa; in 1670, for example, Penlandoppa had two tenants, one paying £1, the other 12s (NLW: CW I, 398); by 1691 there was just one tenant. However, by the time of a survey of the Crosswood Estate in 1766 only the farmstead of Penlanscubor is listed as occupied. But by the tithe map and award of 1843, neither farm was tenanted; at this point the farmstead of Troed y Rhiw Issa (NPRN: 405540) was the main tenant farm here, encompassing the earlier farmsteads in its landholdings and probably using them for additional housing stock and storage.

A detailed survey of the two farms was carried out by RCAHMW in 2006 as part of a wider study of the Troed y Rhiw area. Detailed descriptions of each farm are given under their individual NPRN entries - Penlandoppa (NPRN: 405537) and Penlanscubor (NPRN; 405538).

Louise Barker, RCAHMW, March 2007.

Sources:
Fleming, A. & Barker, L. 2008 Monks and Local Communities: The Late-medieval Landscape of Troed y Rhiw, Caron Uwch Clawdd, Ceredigion. Medieval Archaeology 52, 261-290