Arenig Fawr, Merioneth - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

Figure 14: Abandoned farmstead below Moel Llyfnant (nprn 511085).
The pattern of permanent farmsteads and field cowhouses, with sheepfolds on the
higher ground attached to the upper limit of enclosed land, is repeated in the Lliw
valley. Hendre Blaen-Lliw (nprn 28488) is an eighteenth or early-nineteenth century
two-storey farmhouse with an attached cow house in line across the slope (although
the farmstead is conceivably older than the present house). It had a single field cow
house (nprn 51134) that was replaced in the late nineteenth century by another cow
house (nprn 41572) of conventional plan, with three doorways for muck and feed
passages, and a doorway at the rear. It also has a sheepfold on the higher ground of
Ffridd Castell (nprn 511135).
Blaen-Lliw Uchaf farmhouse (nprn 28173) is of the eighteenth or early nineteenth
century, and incorporates a walled garden (fig 12). The adjacent cow house (nprn
511152) is in line but not attached, which is an unusual arrangement. The farm had two
field cow houses (nprn 41574, 511157), of which the former remains roofed. The farm
also incorporates sheepfolds (nprn 511156, 511176) in the enclosed land, as well as
folds outer to the upper boundary of the farm (nprn 511141, 511142). The latter were
once part of a smallholding named Fotty (511171), which itself may have developed
from an earlier seasonal dwelling and which was converted to a sheepfold after the
house was abandoned.
Although the land use was mainly pasture, some land was given over to arable. Filltirgerig
farmstead lies largely within the survey area. In 1797 arable accounted for
approximately 25 acres (of 487 acres) and in 1840 it had 33 acres (of 415 acres)
(Thomas 1967, 233). In the 1838 Tithe survey Amnodd Wen had 46 acres of arable. This
is significant because later in the nineteenth century the original house was converted
to a mill (nprn 511016), presumably for grinding animal feed. Some associated features
remain, such as the head race (nprn 511017) and tail race (nprn 511018). The wheelpit
is 3m long by 0.4m wide, and a drive shaft from wheelpit to the interior remains in situ.
Decline of permanent occupation on the west side of <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong> ridge began in the
nineteenth century. Fotty may have been occupied into the early twentieth century. A
small farmstead on the lower slopes of Moel Llyfnant (nprn 511085) was abandoned by
the time of the 1830 Ordnance Survey (fig 14). It was probably a permanent farmstead,
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