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Branas Uchaf

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NPRN28196
Map ReferenceSJ03NW
Grid ReferenceSJ0110037200
Unitary (Local) AuthorityDenbighshire
Old CountyMerioneth
CommunityLlandrillo
Type Of SiteHOUSE
Period17th Century
Description
An important L-plan stone-built gentry house of medieval origin sited on the Dee Valley floor rather than hugging the hillside. There are two major phases:
1. A late-medieval hallhouse of aisle-truss type. The trusses remain largely hidden above the ceiling, although cusping is reported. However Peter Smith has reconstructed the plan. The present principal range preserves the length of a five-bay medieval range with hall and passage dramatised by aisle-posts, and the hall set between inner-room and two outer rooms. The quality of the timberwork is high. Pointed doorways survive at the cross-passage and at the doorway between outer room and (added) kitchen.
2. Hall-house conversion. This may have several phases but it preserves the medieval plan. A large chimney has been inserted against the aisle-posts preserving the passage. The hall has an inserted ceiling of counterchanging joists. The post-and-panel partition between hall and inner room (with added fireplace) has been dismantled and remains loose in the inner-room. The outer-rooms have been converted to a parlour at the entry with a large end fireplace topped by a splendid diagonally-set chimney. Beyond the parlour there is a kitchen wing with a large end fireplace which appears early although is largely concealed. The proximity of parlour and kitchen suggests that the parlour may have functioned as a dining-parlour as at Ucheldre. A single-flight stair with splat balusters has been placed in the passage. The beams are mostly broad chamfered with curved stops and fillets, probably of later C16th date. Much of the detail is C17th, including the ovolo-moulded mullioned windows and the stair.
3. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century alterations include division of the kitchen wing and the addition of a fireplace in the lateral wall. External steps to the upper floor were probably for access to accommodation for farm servants. The farmbuildings suggests that this was a large farmstead in the C19th.
Note: Photographs show that the four-bay barn has a roof-truss witch cranked tie-beam dated 1607
(RFS 19/11/2009)

[Additional]:
(a) Primary phase Felling dates: Summer 1508 and Winter 1508/9
(b) Inserted ceiling Felling date: Spring 1514
(c) Flooring over of ladder stair Felling date range: 1637?59
(d) Later panelling Felling date range: 1661?91
(e) Kitchen wing Felling date: Summer 1764 (Vernacular Architecture, 41 p.115).

Reconstructed plan in P. Smith, Houses of the Welsh Countryside, 2nd edn (London: HMSO, 1988), fi g. 56d
Detailed survey in NMRW, 2010. Commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with the RCAHMW (RFS 08/04/2011)
Resources
DownloadTypeSourceDescription
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionAppendix to Engineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire , comprising figure 3, main range truss and windbraces, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionAppendix to Engineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire , comprising figure 6, section drawings through window mulllions, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionDating Old Welsh Houses Project house history report relating to Branas Uchaf, researched by Janice Dale as part of the North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionDating Old Welsh Houses Project dendrochronology results report relating to Branas Uchaf, produced as part of the North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionEngineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionAppendix to Engineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire , comprising figure 7, section drawings through ceiling beams, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionAppendix to Engineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire , comprising figure 2, ground floor and first floor plans, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfDHHS - Discovering the Historic Houses of Snowdonia Collection(a) Reconstructed late-medieval plan and (b) ground-floor plan at Branas Uchaf, Llandrillo. Drawn by Charles Green as part of the publication of 'Discovering the Historic Houses of Snowdonia' by RCAHMW, 2014. Page 96, figure 3.15.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionAppendix to Engineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire , comprising figure 1, location map, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionAppendix to Engineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire , comprising figure 5, drawings of the north-east wing trusses, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionAppendix to Engineering Archaeological Services Report 2009/21 for Branas-uchaf, Llandrillo, Denbighshire , comprising figure 4, drawings of the truss between the main range and south-west wing, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.