The Lost Cottages - Hafod y Gorswen, Caerhun Parish

Hafod y Gorswen is an interesting little place, in part because it seems to be the only more 'modern' house up in Pant y Griafolen, the long sloping valley that leads eastwards down from Dulyn. There are a number of other houses clustered nearby, but all seem much older. Hafod y Gorswen has the appearance of having been rebuilt on an older site in the Victorian era, probably by the estate that owned the land at the time. The stone looks like quarried stone brought to the site, rather than stones picked up from the hillsides around and used as they are, or roughly dressed. 

The place goes by a number of names in records. In a 1904 sale catalogue it appears as 'Hafod-y-Gorswen or Ffrith Cwm Dulyn.' Sometimes it is Ffrith y Gorswen, sometimes Hafod y Gorswen. The Ffrith name predates the Hafod one in the censuses, appearing from 1841-1861, but it appears as Hafodty Gors y Waun on Robert Dawson's 1816 map. 'Hafod' and 'Ffrith' are used interchangeably in a will of 1833. So, it seems that the name of the house was always quite fluid.

Hafod, in essence, is an outdated name by the nineteenth century. The era of transhumance, the seasonal movement between the winter hendref and summer hafod, would have largely died out by then. Nevertheless, it persists in house names and probably helps one track the original purpose of these high up houses.

The house is on the edge of right to roam land, at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7336 6798, although, like many of these upland farms, the fields immediately around it are exempt from the right to roam.

 

For a long time I didn't know the house was there, hidden as it is amongst low stands of willow trees in the middle of this wide valley. The house is at centre, in the smudge of trees. The land around is bleak and rough.

A little gateway into the farmyard on the north side, with only one gatepost. 

The land is all very marshy around the house. It's possible that the terrain was different when the place was lived in, with drainage being regularly attended to, and the climate a little different to today. But it must have been harsh up here when Britain was going through its 'little ice age' between the 14th and 19th centuries. I don't know how Wales fared in this time, since we benefit from rather milder winters than the east due to the Gulf Stream. 

The farm buildings are very ruined, with not much left above three feet, so most details of windows and any of roofing have been lost.

The track to the farm leads along the front, south side, of the outbuildings, with a tumbled wall and low trees to the left.

The house itself is very obviously modern, with its dressed, quarried stone and harsh angles.

 

The censuses show a continuity of occupation by the same family, with waxing and waning fortunes, from 1841 right through to 1911. The tithe of 1846 show that Hugh Hughes farmed a number of different fields, some up at Hafod y Gorswen, with 20 acres on the other side of the Afon Dulyn, and some down in Tal y Bont where the Hendre Estate now stands.

In 1841 Hugh Hughes, 25, a farmer, lives with wife Jane, 30, and children William, 6, Margaret, 4, and Catherine, 1. If the tithe is correct in the middle of this decade he farmed at least 20 acres. But in 1851 he is only an agricultural labourer, now listed as age 40, living with Jane, 40, William, 15, Margaret, 14, Catherine, 11, and Grifith, 3.

 

Perhaps Hugh was suffering from illness and this is why his status declined. In Salem Chapel, Llanbedr y Cennin, a gravestone records the death of Hugh Hughes of 'Ffrith y Gorswen,' who died on September 17th, 1852, at 41 years of age. Their son William died on June 21st 1854, at the age of 19.

In 1861 Jane, 50, is now married to another Hugh, Hugh Roberts, 50, and is living there with her children, Margaret, 24, Catherine, 21, and Griffith, 13. Hugh Roberts is a farmer of 7 acres, employing one man. In 1871 Hugh is 60, living along with wife Jane, 60, Jane's son Griffith Hughes, 23, and a farm servant, Rowland Jones, who is 8 years old.

By 1881 Griffith, 32, has inherited the farm and is living as a farmer with wife Anne, 36, son William, 6 months old, his mother Jane Roberts, 72, who is a widow again, and ten year old Elizabeth Jones, listed as a 'scholar.'

 

By 1891 Jane is dead. She is listed on the aforementioned grave at Salem Chapel, having died on September 30th, 1885, at 76 years, and been buried with her first husband. Griffith, 43, lives with wife Anne, 36, son William, 10, and daughter Anne J, 8. In 1901 Griffith is 51, Anne is 46, William is 20, and Anne J is 18.

 

A newspaper estate sale listing of 1904, detailing the sale of the Gorswen Estate (is Hafod y Gorswen the hafod for Gorswen farm, or is this name only a coincidence?) lists "Lot 11. - Hafod-y-Gorswen or Ffrith Cwm Dulyn, in the occupation of Mr Griffith Hughes as yearly tenant, comprising an area of 82a. 3r. 20p., was withdrawn, not withstanding that this farm is a good spot for sporting purposes, including grouse, and that a small trout stream forms one of its boundaries."

In the more detailed 1911 census a little more of the Hughes family story unfolds. Griffith is 60 and Anne is 56. Both speak only Welsh. The 1911 census asks how many children have been born to the couple, and how many still living. Griffith and Anne have had two children, but only one is still living.

In the graveyard of Capel Talybont a gravestone records the death of William, at the age of 21, on June 27th, 1901. Griffith died at the age of 63, on April 16th, 1911, while his wife Ann(e) survived to the age of 88, dying on the 10th April, 1942.

It's unknown if Anne continued to live locally until her death, but the only Anne Hughes listed in the 1939 register for Nant Conway RD is Anne Hughes, born on 29th May 1853. Her occupation is 'Unpaid Duties' and she is widowed. She lives with Lizzie (Elizabeth) Williams (later Newton and Rowland), born 20th January, 1908, who is a Telephone Switchboard Operator, and another person whose name is redacted because they were born less then 100 years ago.

Like the gateway into the main yard, the gateway to the front garden one has one gatepost surviving - or only ever had one gatepost of substance.

The front doorway, east-facing, with a porch that seems to have been built at the same time as the rest of the house.

 

I don't know the date of the house but it's almost certain it wasn't built in the 1830s, when a pair of wills exist for a couple living at Ffrith/Hafod y Gorswen.

One is a bond of 1833, in the name of Thomas Williams of Ffrith y Gorswen. Thomas Williams died on the 9th September, 1833. Alice Williams, his widow inherited:

2 Cows - £8
1 ditto - £4 10s
2 yearlings - £4 5s
1 horse - £7 5s
3 pigs - £6
30 goats - £7 10s
10 young goats - £1
Hay, oats, etc - £10 5s
Botatoes [Sic] - £1
House furniture - £2 5s
Horse gears - 8s 6d
Total = £52 8s 6d

I love to imagine the forty goats leaping around on the ffridd. I haven't seen goats mentioned in a local will until now.

On the 3rd July, 1836 Alice Jones died. (Alice Williams would be using her father's name, John, as a patronymic, instead of her husband's surname.) In her will she states she is 'old but of sound mind.' I think she must have sold the majority of her husband's livestock and farming equipment and put the money in the bank, as her property listing runs:

 

One old cow - £4 15s
The Household - £1 5s
At Saving Bank of Bangor - £42
At Saving Bank of Caernarvon - £3 19s 6d
In Money at a different places [Sic] in the Country - £0 6s 0d

= £60 5s 6d

The funeral and mourning expenses deducted - £8 17s 11d

 

The Total answer to - £51 7s 7d

 

It doesn't seem a coincidence that the total of her goods is almost equal to the worth of her husband's livestock and property.

Pre-census, the parish records for Llanbedr y Cennin show burials in 1821 - Jane Thomas, Hafodgorswen, buried December 3rd, age 28; 1833 - Thomas Williams, Hafod y Gorswen, buried September 12th, age 74; 1836
- Alice Jones, Ffrith y Gorswen, buried July 6th, age 74.

I haven't yet found the place in other parish records but it takes a long time to go through these records with a fine tooth comb.

A window opening is to the left of the front door, into what seems to be the main room. A low garden wall runs from the corner of the building.

The wall is rather more intact to the right of the door, and the window survives to its full height. 

Some of the doorframe still remains.

The bottom of the frame is rotted but there's still some render against it on the wall. 

On the left side of the doorway is a bit of wood wedged into the wall.

The nail measures six inches from the head to where it disappears into the stonework. I don't know if this were something associated with the doorframe, or something added after the house was abandoned for living in.

 

Looking back at the doorway from inside. There seems to be a small window to the left of the door.

A stone lying in the rubble shows signs of being drilled and blasted.

The south east corner of the large south room. The front window is to the left. It's possible there's another window in the south wall to the right, although I would have expected the main fireplace to be in this wall.

The back wall of the main room is so destroyed it's impossible to tell what it might have looked like or where the fireplace was. 

Looking south through the ruined south wall. The sharp line to the left does look like a window. Could there have been a window to the side of the fireplace? It could be that a more modern fireplace with a stove was considerably smaller than the older ones converted from open fires.

Standing in the big south room looking north west. There's a small back room to the left of a dividing wall with a small front room on the other side. Interestingly, this interior wall seems to be built of natural, rather than quarried, stone. Perhaps some of the stone was reused from the old house. 

The small front room in the north east corner of house, still with some render on the inside wall.

The window at the front looks east, where a stream runs under the front yard.

In the small back room is a huge stone lintel leaning against the back wall. It measures about 7' 6" inches long. 

 

 

This is either a door or window out of the back room. If this were a scullery or something similar it seems more likely there would be a door to outside in the room. It also seems more likely to be a door since it's pressed up against the wall to the right.

 

It's hard to tell conclusively if this were a door or window because the ground level has changed due to the amount of rubble in the room. The opening is about 2' 8" wide.

In the small front room a few pieces of timber still survive, probably joists from the floor above.

The window in this small front room is about three feet wide and about 4'10" high. Perhaps it would have been a sash window, or else one of square panes.

A closer look at the render on the inside of the small front room's northern wall.

The east facing window in the large room seems to be the same size as the one in the small room, but there's no way to tell the height.

Standing in the big room looking towards the smaller northern rooms. It seems that if the house were two storeys, as is likely, the staircase would have gone up somewhere in the hall-like area behind the front door. 

A rainbow rising over the ruined outbuildings to the east. This was a brief period of sun in a very wet day.

The apparent small window to the right of the front door, which may have given some light to the hallway. The window is 18" wide and would be 4' high if the top were level with the window in the room next to it. 

The ruined area in the centre of the house. It seems likely there was something of a small hall, with a doorway to the right, where the rose bush is growing, into the small front room, and another doorway straight ahead into the back room, which may have been a scullery.

Standing outside the possible scullery at the north west corner of the house. A ruined enclosure wall seems to lead from the corner north towards the camera.

A wider shot of the entire house, from the north west corner. These places always look quite small when you're just looking at a ruined footprint. If it were intact it would probably seem larger. To the far left the outbuildings can just be seen. The east side of the Conwy Valley is visible in the distance.

Standing at the south west corner of the house, looking at the partly destroyed south wall. Probably the main fireplace was in this wall or the western wall. With it being a relatively modern house, perhaps late nineteenth century, the fireplace may not have been as big as in some of the older places.

Outside the southern wall, this long stone looks as if it were probably a lintel, reinforcing the suspicion that there might have been a window in this wall, although it's impossible to tell which floor it was from, of course. It seems a little short for a fireplace lintel.

This south east corner of the house is surprisingly intact, and without the rest of the ruin in the photo it's easier to imagine the whole house intact. The view is along the wall of the front yard, towards the outbuildings.

A little stream runs directly past the house, passing under the front yard, coming out here on the south side.

These large stones in the yard cover the channel of the stream.

At the north side of the yard, the stream enters the tunnel under a large rock.

Looking east, over the covered stream, to the end of the outbuildings. These are much more roughly built, and certainly older, than the house, but the stone has been roughly faced.

A track runs west-east along the south side of the outbuildings, but there is this one little shed or pen on the south side of the track, at the west end near the house.

A little window survives in one of the barn walls. It seems likely to me that if the original house was one of these outbuildings, it would be this western cell which would be the house, with the barns attached to the east.

Possibly this long stone lying on the trackway is a door or window lintel from the barn.

A lovely stone sill into the westernmost barn, with a sheep lick on top of it. The site is still used by the farmer as a focus for feeding the sheep.

The interior of the barn is very ruined, and split into a number of cells. The nineteenth century house can be seen to the left in the photo.

The back north east corner of one of the cells, with the possible remains of other cells or pens beyond.

The doorway into the next cell. This doesn't have such a nice stone sill.

The stones in this doorway are quite rough, and it's hard to tell if any were meant as a sill, or if they've just fallen here.

In the back corner of this cell, a piece of twisted iron is jammed into the wall.

A closer look at that piece of iron. Perhaps it was used for tethering something?

This eastern wall survives a little higher than some of the other walls. It's of quite a rough construction, with a lot of small stones.

Another doorway into this outbuilding, with a nice looking stone sill.

A wide-angle shot shows the two doorways into this cell. The left one is much more intact than the right. Having two doors into a barn like this is a fairly common motif. Perhaps there would have been a wooden partition between the two halves.

A lot of the stones in this wall aren't faced at all, and it looks very much as if it were just built with the first stones to hand.

A rather more ruined cell nearing the end of the range.

From the east end of the outbuildings, there seems to be a rough kerb of stone edging the track that leads down and around the front of the buildings.

Looking along the ruined range of outbuildings towards the mountains in the west, still with a little snow on the peaks.

A long enclosure of land surrounds the house and outbuildings, stretching east-west. Pen y Gaer sits in the distance, on the edge of the valley.

This enclosure is covered in rushes but the ground isn't too soggy. A low wall separates it from the next long enclosure.

Behind the wall at the end of the next enclosure is this little outbuilding, quite a way from the house.

The outbuilding is to the left, with the field wall to the right built of smaller stones and far more ruined.

This piece of curved iron is jammed in the wall. Photographed with tape measure for size context.

This outbuilding is quite ruined, with the corners surviving higher than the middles of the walls. Perhaps this long stone in the foreground was a lintel, and the doorway was here at the end? The building may have been built after the field boundary, since the field wall isn't used as part of the building wall. The building butts up against the field wall, but it is a separate structure.

Looking back towards the outbuilding, with the house invisible beyond the wall, from the far end of the enclosure of land.

This field boundary is astonishingly thick, and I don't know why. The wall measures 6' 7" wide!

Back by the house, at the eastern end of the outbuildings, this line of stones along the wall intrigues me. The layout, if not the shape of the stones, reminds me of a line of stones at nearby Ffrith y Bont (pictures near the end of the linked post), which some people postulate may be a prehistoric stone row, although it's likely the stones are contemporary with the house. It has been suggested stones like this form the edge of a sheep run but in general they seem to be a mystery. I will show some examples of other stone rows like this in a future post, and any insight on their use would be gratefully received!

The stone row is about three feet from the wall behind.

A wider shot of the stone row.

Looking back towards the house along the track in front of the outbuildings.

The land on the southern side of the track is covered in tangled willows and quite marshy. I left the house and carried on towards the western end of the enclosure, which contains a prehistoric cairn which will be featured in a future post.