Fron Isaf farm is located approximately a mile east of the village of Llangwm, Denbighshire, and quarter of a mile south of the confluence of the Medrad and Ceirw rivers, just off the A5. According to heritage consultancy Trysor, some of the land that now forms the holding was unenclosed common land when it was mapped on the Ordnance Survey's Original Surveyors Drawings (Bala sheet), surveyed in 1818. 'When the Ordnance Survey published their 1 inch to 1 mile scale First Series map for the area in 1838, based on the 1818 survey, a similar picture is presented.'
'The tithe apportionment of 1840 indicates that 3455 acres of common land still existed in the parish at the time of the tithe survey, the total area of the parish being given as 10,578 acres.' Some of this common land now forms part of Fron Isaf farm.
'The first edition 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map, published in 1875 but surveyed several years earlier, shows that the extent of the unenclosed common land in the area was similar to that shown on the 1841 tithe map. This map shows the unenclosed commons just before the process of enclosure changed the management of the hill pasture forever. The parliamentary Act of Enclosure had been passed for the Llangwm Commons in 1865 and the enclosures themselves would undoubtedly have begun relatively soon after the survey undertaken by the Ordnance Survey. The map also names Fron-isaf farm, and records that the farmyard was in roughly the same position as it is. There were two buildings depicted in a cluster at the farmyard - one long and narrow rectangular building orientated north-south and a wider, roughly 'L' shaped building, which also appears to be orientated north-south.
'The 1900 edition of the 1:2500 map shows that the enclosure of the parish commons in the area had been undertaken. The hills around the upper part of Cwm Owain valley were still mapped as rough pasture, but had now been divided into a series of large field parcels.' This edition of the map shows that significant changes had taken place at Fron-Isaf's farm yard. The long rectangular building appears to have been replaces by a smaller, but wider, rectangular building. The roughly 'L' shaped building also seems to have been replaced by a smaller building. It is still 'L' shaped, but now orientated east to west. Another, smaller rectangular building had been built at the northern edge of the farmyard, also orientated east to west.
'Despite the Act of Enclosure and the conversion of the hill pasture around Cwm Owain into private farmland, as opposed to common land, much of the land has continued to be managed as unimproved or semi-improved pasture, suitable for upland grazing.'
Sources: modern and historic OS maps; Trysor report entitled 'Fron Isaf, Tynant, Corwen Historic Environment Appraisal' by Jenny Hall and Paul Sambrook, March 2015
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 11th March 2019