17th century, stone, T shaped, 2 storey plus attic with slate roof, 18th century addition to North, massive projecting chimney. Interior panelled doors and shutters, ornamental wrought hinges.
RCAHMW, 01 January 1993.

[Additional:]

Maes-y-coed belongs to a group of early winged houses with a centralised plan (cf. Houses of the Welsh Countryside, figs 139-42, esp. fig. 142b ) which have special interest as the precursors of 'modern' house plans with central circulation. Houses of this type are generally winged with special provision for direct access to the stair, which provided independent access to all or most of the chambers, and have the service-room at the rear.

Maes-y-coed is T-shaped with a C17th kitchen wing which was apparently refronted in the C18th by the present principal range. The kitchen wing preserves some significant period detail, some of which has come to light recently (2014): the framed stair, door-frames, stone mullioned window, all with ovolo mouldings. The detail places the wing in the mid-C17th or a little earlier.
The stair was placed on one side of the passage bay between the kitchen and the principal rooms; a service-room flanked the other side of the passage. C19th alterations have largely concealed the detail of a splendid if rather tight framed srair of dog-leg type with carved balusters, moulded hand-rail, pendants and finials, which rose to the attic. A recently uncovered doorframe with double-ovolo moulding shows that the wing was entered from the present principal range.

Maes-y-coed is a significant addition to the small number of early houses with centralised planning. The stair and kitchen wing preserves mid-C17th detail but the principal range was modernised in the C18th. Nevertheless the principal range appears to preserve the original plan of a large passage which provided access to the stair and kitchen wing and to the flanking hall and parlour with end fireplaces.

The Wynnes of Maes-y-coed were a well-established gentry family in the later C17th and early C18th. Bishop John Wynne (1667-1743), sometime Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, was a member of the family.

The house is associated with some substantial farmbuildings (nprn 420688), including a multi-bayed timber-framed barn which incorporates much reused timber. The farm complex includes a water-wheel and leet.

R.F. Suggett/RCAHMW/Nov. 2014