Old Village Homes

The oldest surviving houses in the village date from the 17th century.

You can see several with dates engraved into the stone:

• Bryn Ffynnon (1680)
• Tir Gwelyog (1671) (earlier the Rectory)

The two oldest houses are:

• Ty Isa Farm
• Ty Ucha.

Ty Isa has a 17th century sundial on its facade. Many of the small cottages built in the late 17th and the 18th centuries have disappeared, including a cluster called Plas Gwen at the end of Well Lane, which were in use until1937.

Ty’n Twll

Ty’n Twll, which was to the south of Ffordd y Mynydd near the entrance to Bryn Hyfryd, is shown on the earliest maps of the village when few other buildings existed. It last appeared in the Census records in 1871, when it was occupied by a widow aged 65 and her 15 year old grandson. It is likely that it fell into ruins following her death. Early cottages were likely to have been similar to Bryn Heulog on the Teilia Road.

Pant y Fachwen

A similar cottage, known as Pant y Fachwen, was built on the hillside on the north-western edge of the parish and was inhabited until the 1870s. It is likely that the long walk up and down the hillside to fetch water from Ffynnon Mair was a contributory factor in its abandonment.

Wesley Place

What is now the village green was the site, until 1937 of a cluster of three 19th century cottages known as Wesley Place, which included a public bake-house and a pound for straying animals. The flat wall near the village notice-board was used to place baking tins on. By the 1920s Wesley Place was considered by the parish council to be a slum and was condemned. Most of the residents moved into the new council houses and the cottages fell into dilapidation. They were finally demolished in 1937.

Bryn Glen and Bryn yr Orsedd

Some old cottages have been so altered that they would no longer be recognisable to their former occupants. Many of today’s single homes were originally two, three or four small terraced cottages. Bryn Glen and Bryn yr Orsedd both were once three cottages; Canol y Marian and Rhydycilgwyn two. Throughout the 19th and the first half of the 20th century most of the homes in the village were owned by outsiders and rented to villagers.

Now nearly all the homes in the village are privately owned including many of the former council houses. In the same period, most households numbered 4-8 members. In 1871 the two largest families had nine children. Today most households include mainly 1 to 4 people.