We found this little lost cottage, Tan y Graig (OS Grid Reference SH 7541 7379), on a walk past Llangelynnin Old Church to Cerrig y Dinas, an iron age hillfort very nearby. It was a short and rainy walk, a birthday excursion. I was aiming for the hillfort, so it was an extra birthday present to find this lovely cottage, which isn't marked as clearly as buildings on the modern map as it is on the 1888-1913 map. (Incidentally, after this walk a friend pointed me to
this amazing site which has the 1888-1913 map online, as well as the 1955-61 map, and allowed me to find the cottage name, which isn't on the modern map.)
It's not a hard walk to get to this little cottage, or the hillfort, after parking at the end of the road near Llangelynnin Old Church, but there is a stone stile to cross and the hillfort is steep in places to ascend. It's well worth stopping in to visit the church, which is one of the oldest in Wales.
Llangelynnin Old Church nestled under the edge of the hill, looking back on the way to Tan y Graig cottage.
The first glimpse of the farmstead is a gatepost and the back of the pig sties.
The front of the pig sties. Like the sties at the nearby
Llŵyn Penddu, these are peat roofed.
Only the gable end of the house is still standing. Sadly, this isn't the end with the big fireplace.
Gateways into the pig sties.
There's still some ironwork in the gatepost.
A lovely slate slab makes a dividing wall between the tiny yards outside the two sties.
Sheep must use this place as a shelter in bad weather.
Lovely ferns growing between the stones.
The interior, showing the two sties are one, divided, as outside, by a large slate slab.
Light coming in through the roof, which is made up of large slate slabs and turf.
There appears to be some mortar between the stones of the right hand sty. Lucky pigs?
The roof of the pig sties. As you can see from the wet lens, there was plenty of rain on this walk.
A view past the ruins to the Conwy Valley below.
The standing gable end is still well rendered. The lower part reminds me strongly of the gable end of our own cottage.
A tiny fireplace with a fat little lintle.
I wondered about the chimney for this little fire, since there was no thicking of the wall to accomodate a chimney breast, so I stuck my phone into the fireplace to take a photo. There's definitely a chimney.
The remains of a window with a lovely view over the valley.
Mortar still exists on the wall.
Looking towards the end of the big room at the other end of the house, a large fireplace can be seen, almost entirely collapsed.
A little bread oven in the side of the big fireplace.
The bread oven has a lovely brick arch and brick interior.
Possibly the remains of a small outbuilding abutting the end of the house.
Looking along the length of the cottage towards the small room with its small fireplace at the other end.
Cast iron fragments on the wall. Possibly remains of an oven?
On the other side of the track, there is a walled yard with more buildings.
Looking back at the pig sties and broken off pine next to the track to the farm.
Inside the little yard on the other side of the track, a barn or shippon can be seen.
The walls of the yard with entrance to the track.
Entrance to one of the barns.
Inside, the wall still has mortar between the stones.
The entrance to the other, larger, barn, which is less overgrown inside. Relatively well protected from rain by the trees, it is probably used by sheep for shelter.
A fragment of what may have been a jug.
A curiosity - what seems to be a window at the back of the barn.
A little niche in the wall a few feet up from the ground.
A lot of the stones have tumbled into the interior.
The doorway from the barn to outside.
The gable end of the barn.
Possibly another niche in the wall, or just where a stone has fallen out.
Hard up against the barn wall is another low wall.
Looking back at Tan y Graig and the view of the valley, on the way to Cerrig y Dinas.
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