The remains of a 'lluest' or shepherd's homestead, occupied during the eighteenth century with the liklihood of much earlier origins. It stands in a naturally sheltered location on a ridge between the head of the Nant Silo valley and Nant Cwm-y-graig.
The homestead consists of a building with conjoining emclosures set within a large sub-rectangular enclosure, partially sub-divided and containing other enclosed areas, together with associated external structures. The site is located on the top of a ridge marked by linear bands of outcrop which were used both for shelter and to facilitate enclosure and sub-division.
The homestead enclosure is sub-rectangular, its long axis aligned NNE-SSW formed around bands of outcrop similarly aligned. On the north it is bounded by a stony bank, externally ditched, down opposite sides of a dry valley with a 16m gap between them, off-centre to the west; on the east by a curvilinear bank along the flank of an outcrop band above the steep slope of the ridge; on the south by a stony bank forming a V-shape the arms of which are joined by natural rock; and on the west by a band of outcrop above ground falling away downhill. Internally it measures about 170m long and 100m wide at its greatest, 70m at its narrowest. Much of the interior is occupied by rock formations between which there is much boggy ground. That this was not always the case is suggested by the frequent occurrence of banking which both subdivides the enclosure and encloses areas within it.
See also NPRNs 418365; 418377-9.

The site is one of the lluestau listed by Lewis Morris and portrayed on his map of the manor of Perfedd, 1744 (1). It is unusual in its hilltop setting, contrasting with the streamside locations of the other lluestau listed by Morris. Although certainly in use during the mid-eighteenth century the homestead appears to have been abandoned by the mid-nineteenth century.

(1) Lewis Morris, Map of the Manor of Perfedd (National Library of Wales).

David Leighton, RCAHMW, 1 February 2013