On the north side of the Afon Stewi is the site of the precursor of Lletty-Ifan-Hen farmhouse. Little of the structure remains to be seen. A length of walling measuring some 19m long (E-W) is coterminous with a field wall. Mortared at its east end it survives to 1.5m high but becomes a line of boulder footings at its west end. The ground surface is stony and very uneven, probably the result of demolition. The building was roofed at the time of the OS first edition mapping (1870s) but is not shown at all on the second edition (early 1900s). The present farmhouse, Lletty-Ifan-Hen, is also depicted on the first edition map.
A short distance to the north-west at SN 68508490 in a heavily overgrown enclosure, is a rectangular structure measuring internally about 13m (E-W) by 5m. There is a wide gap in the east wall and the interior is strewn with rubble. The building may have been ancillary to Hen-Lletty-Evan-Hen (a barn?) but is not shown on the early mapping and was presumably already out of use.
There is some historical significance to this site. In the very early seventeenth century a court case brought to the Exchequer by former tenants of Strata Florida Abbey who occupied holdings on what was the abbey's Dwyarchen grange, now held by a successor landlord, listed a holding called `Ty-llety-Ievan-hen? (1). This was described as a `summer house? and an `ancient tenancy?. This is documentary evidence that the practice of seasonal occupation was already established on this side of Plynlimon during the medieval period at a site which eventually became a permanent holding. Initial settlement activity here may be represented by nearby building platforms (NPRN 418086) which were later replaced by this farmhouse.

(1) Jones & Jeffries, Exchequer Proceedings Concerning Wales in Tempore James I, 95-6 (Cardiff 1955).

David Leighton, RCAHMW, 6 December 2012