Llethr Cadfan Farmhouse including former 'granary' building, Llangathen, Carmarthenshire

History

The earliest part of the house was probably built by Thomas Vaughan, who owned the house in 1597. It was extended in the early C17, probably before 1630. The house was assessed as having 5 hearths in 1670. The house passed to Jane Vaughan who c1614 married Rees Williams, heir of Edwinsford, and they may have lived at Llethr Cadfan until inheriting Edwinsford in 1630. Subsequently the house was let to tenant farmers and remained relatively unaltered. It continued to be part of the Edwinsford Estate until the third quarter of the C20.

The earlier block comprised a kitchen and service room in the lower storey, and great chamber on the first floor. The great chamber was originally embellished with an ornate plaster ceiling in early Renaissance style, but it no longer survives. The great chamber was later altered for accommodation for farm workers by inserting a doorway in the first floor to give external access to the great chamber. The early C17 block, which became the principal part of the farmhouse, was refenestrated in the later C19. An outshut was added to the rear and a lower wing was added to the S gable end in the third quarter of the C19, and are shown on the 1887 Ordnance Survey. The wing on the S side has subsequently been taken down. The earlier block was uninhabited at the time of inspection.

Exterior

A large 2½-storey farmhouse in 2 distinct phases. The earlier late C16 block on the L (S) side (formerly listed as the ''''granary''''), is of rubble stone (painted white in the front elevation) with a steeply pitched graded stone-tile roof, octagonal stone stack to the R and more complex polygonal stack to the L. The later C17 block to the R (N), is lower, and has roughcast walls with steep slate roof. It has ridge stacks to the centre and R end, and a tall tapering stone stack, heightened in brick, rising from the eaves on the L side. A C17 2-storey porch is centrally placed in the front elevation between the 2 blocks.

The porch has a segmental-headed doorway and replaced door, above which is a 4-pane pivoting window. (A former recess above the doorway, at one time containing a tablet with a coat of arms, is not now visible in the roughcast.) The hipped roof is on a plain corbel table. Set back to the R of the porch are margin-lit 2-pane sash windows in each storey. The remainder of the elevation is brought forward, with the tall eaves stack in the angle. It has 2-pane margin-lit sash windows to the L of centre in both storeys, a ribbed door lower R, and 2-pane sash above it at an intermediate level. The R gable end is asymmetrical and has 2 attic windows, of which the R-hand is blocked built retains a drip mould, while the L-hand is a fixed light under a wooden lintel. Below is an attached farm building. The rear of the C17 block has an outshut added on to an original stair projection, of which a small narrow light remains visible in the side wall.

The C16 block is set back from the later porch. In its lower storey is a wide inserted segmental-headed doorway with double C19 boarded doors, and a boarded door then an inserted window to the R. To the L side is a small ventilation strip, the only original opening in the lower storey. The upper storey is dominated by its pair of 4-light windows with wooden ovolo mullions, drip moulds and relieving arches. Both were originally transomed windows, of which the L-hand has survived virtually intact, while in the R-hand window only the upper lights and transom survive, below which a doorway has been inserted into the position of the lower lights, to allow direct access to the first floor, probably for farm workers'''' accommodation. On the R side is another relieving arch over a blocked window, into which a smaller window has been inserted, while on the L side a corresponding window is also blocked but retains a hood mould. The L gable end has the shadow of a lower 2-storey former wing, which has pigeon holes in the wall. The rear is dominated by the great-chamber stack L of centre, rising from a gable above the eaves, and with an octagonal shaft. In the lower storey is a wide blocked opening R of centre under a segmental head with voussoirs, into which a smaller window has been inserted. To the R end is a small ventilation strip to a recess beside the kitchen fireplace. On the L side is a shuttered window under a drip mould, and a boarded door is at the L end to the cross passage of the C17 block. On the L side there is a narrow opening lighting the stair at intermediate level, with an inserted stair window to its L. Above is a further stair window, under a drip mould and relieving arch for a wider original window. The upper storey also has a segmental relieving arch indicating the position of an original window to the great chamber, but replaced by a narrower and lower-placed 2-light window with shutters. On the R side are putlogs.

In front of the C17 block is a rubble-stone garden wall, probably of the C17.

Interior

Inside the porch is a pointed stop-chamfered doorway to a cross passage. The C17 block is 2-unit with hall and service room (the latter now entered by an inserted door in the front elevation), with stone stairs in an original rear outshut. The earlier block has, in the lower storey, a stone partition between kitchen and service room. The kitchen fireplace in the L gable end has a massive timber lintel. The smaller service room has an inserted fireplace under a wooden lintel, with bread oven. A dog-leg stair leads to the great chamber, of which the lower flight is stone and the upper flight wooden treads. In the great chamber is a segmental-headed stone fireplace in the rear wall. Cross beams are retained but the attic floor is otherwise missing, leaving principals with curved feet visible.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* as an especially fine sub-medieval regional house retaining original plan form and high-quality original detail.

External Links

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