Rhyddgoed Farm is located near the Pembrokeshire-Carmarthenshire border, on the Pembrokeshire side. It is situated between two rivers - the Cwm and the Cwm-Waun-Gron, approximately a mile south east of Lampeter Velfrey. According to heritage consultancy Trysor, 'according to genealogical sources the earliest known reference to Rhyddygoed dates to 1720 when it was the home of the Hancock family, who resided here until the early 19th century. The will of Mark Hancock, who died in 1798, is kept at the National Library of Wales (St. David's Wills SD1798-76). He bequeathed most of his property to his wife Margaret and son William, and left money to his four daughters Elizabeth, Mary, Jennet and Margaret.'
'The Ordnance Survey's Original Surveyors Drawings (Tenby sheet), surveyed in 1809, was the first detailed map series of the whole country. It did not map field boundaries but does differentiate between enclosed and unenclosed land. This map shows that the farmyard and access lane at Rhyddgoed were in the same position as found today, although the farmyard building complex was much smaller than present. No detail of any associated field system is shown on this map. The map is slightly blurred, but one of the three cottage sites which are now included within the farmstead boundary is clearly visible.'
'When the Ordnance Survey published their 1 inch to 1 mile scale First Series map for the area in 1819, based on the 1809 survey, the same picture is presented with regard to the arrangement of the farm buildings. This map seems to show the farmhouse in the same position as at present, though it may well have been smaller than the present homestead. This map shows two of the three post-medieval cottages which have been recorded as formerly standing on the farmstead, one of which being known as Glan Gynydd on later Ordnance Survey mapping.'
'The first detailed map of the field system of the area is the 1842 tithe map for Lampeter Velfery parish. The field system has changed considerably since 1842, with many of the small fields to the west of the farmyard having been amalgamated into larger field parcels. It was in this area that the two aforementioned cottages stood, and land which surrounded them was predominantly not owned by Rhyddgoed at the time of the tithe survey. The later abandonment of these cottages seems to have allowed for the incorporation of their fields into Rhyddgoed and the removal of both the cottages and many of the fields boundaries surrounding them. This map also shows two farm buildings at the courtyard, presumably the farmhouse in its present position and an outbuilding at the western side of the farmyard which is set apart from, and aligned at right angles to, the farmhouse.'
'The tithe apportionment, which accompanies the map and was prepared in 1842, records that Rhyddgoed farm was a 205 acre holding occupied by one Elizabeth Thomas and owned by Henry Yelverton of Whitland Abbey.'
'The First Edition 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map of 1889 shows that the field system in the area of the development had already changed since the time of the 1842 tithe map. The two aforementioned cottages had already been demolished and their small fields incorporated into larger parcels. The cottage known as Glan Gynydd was still occupied but its fields had also been amalgamated.'
'The 1889 map also shows the farmyard building complex in detail. This shows the farmhouse with an outbuilding attached to its western gable wall, an arrangement which survives today. The outbuilding at the western side of the farmyard, shown on the 1842 tithe map, also still stood in 1889, but by this time had been extended with a new range built on an east-west alignment pat its northern end, creating an L-shaped building in plan. This building range seems likely to survive today, but now incorporated within larger 20th century agricultural sheds.'
'The 1907 Second Edition of the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map shows a similar layout of the field system and farmyard. The main changes at this time appear to be the abandonment and removal of Glan Gynydd cottage and the addition of a small outbuilding at the eastern side of the farmyard at Rhyddgoed, which still stands today.'
'Historic mapping seems to indicate that the house at Rhyddgoed Farm had remained in the same position, at the southern side of the farmyard throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. By the early 21st century the farmyard building complex has been expanded considerably with the addition of large agricultural sheds around the historic farmyard core during the second half of the 20th century.'
Source: Trysor report entitled 'Rhyddgoed, Tavernspite Carmarthenshire Historic Environment Appraisal and Walk-over' by Jenny Hall and Paul Sambrook, published June 2015
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 7th March 2019