Description
1. 15th and 16th century, later alterations. 'L' shape plan, stone, 2 storey, slate roof, 17th century stair, arched collar, braced roof.
Additional: Hafod has two ranges which stand corner to corner in the manner of a unit system arrangement. The main range (not surveyed) is probably of C17th date and the successor of an aisled hallhouse (NPRN 27258), sited down the slope, whose truncated remains are incorporated in a back kitchen and dairy. (2003.02.10/RCAHMW/RFS)
2. Hafod, Rhiwlas, is a farmhouse in two ranges joined at right angles by means of a low link. Both ranges are of two storeys but the west range is about 2m higher. The walls are of local quasi-rubble slate stonework with traces of limewash; the roofs are of slate. There is a stone end chimney to the south of the east range, and a stone chimney to the west of the (original) west range. There is a 19th-century continuation of the west range in similar materials. Possibly the older of the two ranges is the hall range to the east, which has two surviving mediaeval arch-braced trusses, both of aisled form with king posts and cambered tie beams. The truss to the south is very decoratively carved including main posts in the form of four colonettes separated by thin keels. The roof has cusped principals, struts and braces, and the south truss has a king post carved as a cluster of small colonnettes with cap and base. The soffit of the arch-braces of the south truss carries late Gothic pierced tracery. The north truss is more utilitarian but has some cusping; it may have incorporated a partition, with doors in the aisle openings each side.
Discussed and illustrated in Houses of the Welsh Countryside, p. 95, and fig. 45. The building was sampled for tree-ring dating on 7th Feb. 2003. A tree-ring date of 14 was reported in Vernacular Architecture 2003. (2004.06.30/RCAHMW/RFS)
Source: DE/DOM/SJ24NE, from the Cadw listed buildings database
J. Archer, RCAHMW, 18.10.2004