Ty Nant farm is situated immediately to the north east of the point where Nant Bwlchydderwen meets the Afon Cyneiniog, approximately two and a half miles east of Talybont. According to heritage consultancy Trysor, 'the Ordnance Survey's Original Surveyors Drawings were 'the first detailed map series of the whole country. It did not map field boundaries but does differentiate between enclosed and unenclosed land.' The Plynlimon sheet of the Surveyors Drawings, published in 1816, 'provides some detail of the landscape' around Tynant and other nearby farmsteads including Bwlchyfedwen Fawr and Bwlchyfedwen Fach. 'The map also shows the trackway which connected Tynant to both of the latter named holdings. No detail of field boundaries within the field systems of these farmsteads is shown.'
'When the Ordnance Survey published their 1 inch to 1 mile scale First Series map for the area in 1837, based on the 1816 survey, a similar picture is presented.'
'The first detailed map of the field system of the area is the tithe map for the Ceulan y Maesmawr hamlet within the parish of Llanfihangel Genau'r Glyn, which was surveyed in 1847. This shows details of the field system around the farmsteads, which was well developed and covered the whole of the hill between Tynant and Brynfedwen Fawr (named as Bwlchyfedwen Fawr on the 1816 Ordnance Survey map). The main characteristics of this field system are still seen today, although some boundaries have been removed to create larger fields.'
The apportionment that accompanies the 1847 tithe map records that 'Tynant was a 69 acre farm, owned and farmed by one John Griffiths. Brynfedwen Fawr was a 137 acre holding, owned by one Matthew Davies and occupied by Hugh Hughes, whilst Brynfedwen Fach was a 58 acre holding owned by Jane Thomas and occupied by John Jones.' Interestingly, there is no trace of Brynyfedwen Fawr or Brynyfedwen Fach on modern editions of the OS maps, although Ty Nant appears to have continued as a working farm.
Sources: modern and historic OS maps; Trysor report entitled 'Tynant, Talybont, Ceredigion Historic Environment Appraisal' by Jenny Hall and Paul Sambrook, published August 2015
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 11th March 2019