A single storey lofted cottage, thought to be sixteenth century, with an agricultural building, once a mill of some kind, attached.
The cottage faces north. Its walls, limewashed or roughcast, are of uncoursed stone rubble on a boulder foundation, under a modern gabled roof. The original doorway is now a window. The existing windows are thought to be modern replacements in original openings.
There is a central fireplace dividing the interior into two rooms, both of which show a cruck pair. The present lofts are modern, but a window in the east gable is thought to have lit an original loft.
A single bay building is added on the east end, sharing a common roof. This has an arched opening to the front and an iron drive wheel over a leat at the rear.
Blaenglasgwmuchaf (Blaen-y-glasgwm) is an upland farmhouse of late medieval origin. The house is downslope sited, rubble walled, and retains several cruck trusses with lapped collars and tie-beams. The crucks defined a four-bay range, presumably a peasant hall-house with single-bayed hall. The inserted fireplace has created a house of lobby-entry type with the large fireplace heating the former hall with lofted inner rooms beyond. The former doorway into the cross-passage has been converted to a window. The C17th roof raising is probably contemporary with the inserted fireplace. Blaenglasgwm was part of the Gwydir estate in the early C17th. Plan and description in RCAHMW, Caernarvonshire Inventory, Volume I: East (1956), p.174, mon. 620 and fig. 169, plate 63. NPRN 26032. RFS/RCAHMW/July 2012.
Resources
DownloadTypeSourceDescription
application/pdfDHHS - Discovering the Historic Houses of Snowdonia CollectionBlaen-y-Glascwm, Penmachno. (a) Reconstructed hall-house plan; (b) ground-floor plan; (c) section A-A; (d) section B-B. Drawn by Charles Green as part of 'Discovering the Historic Houses of Snowdonia,' published by RCAHMW, 2014. Page 114, figure 3.29
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionOxford Dendrochronology Laboratory Report no 2012/24 relating to the tree-ring dating of Blaen Glascwm Uchaf, Penmachno, produced by Dr D. Miles and Dr M.C. Bridge, July 2012, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionEAS Client report no 2012/05 relating to Blaen Glasgwm Uchaf, Penmachno, produced by I.P. Brooks of Engineering Archaeological Services, as part of the North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionDating Old Welsh Houses Project house history report relating to Blaen y Glascwm Uchaf, researched by Frances Richardson and Gill. Jones as part of the North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
