The Lost Cottages - Brwynog Isaf, Llyn Cowlyd, Llanrhychwyn Parish

The cluster of farms named Brwynog, up by Llyn Cowlyd, have something of an intertwined history. At least, Brwynog Uchaf and Brwynog Isaf seem to have been connected by families; locals have mentioned their families farming both farms, and in the more recent released censuses, up to 1911, the names Williams and Griffiths recur, mixed between the farms. In fact, in the 1911 and 1901 censuses both Brwynogs, Pen y Bryn Brwynog, and Siglen are all inhabited by Williams. Pen y Bryn Brwynog and Siglen sit a little further away to the north, but would have been part of the same small community, along with Garregwen and Cwm Cowlyd, high up on the valley side between Dolgarrog and Trefriw. This is another of the little lost and abandoned communities that lie in the high, shallow valleys radiating from the main Conwy Valley into the mountains of the Carneddau. This valley, with Llyn Cowlyd at its head, is known as Nant Brwynog. Brwynog means 'abounding with rushes,' and that's certainly true of parts of this valley.

Brwynog Isaf - the 'lower' Brwynog - is rather more intact than its sister Brwynog Uchaf (discussed here), which was demolished in the 1960s, and I suspect was partly buried during work relating to the reservoir. Cowlyd reservoir is just a little way to the west of both properties, at the head of the valley. The speculated history of Cowlyd's connection with the Mabinogion has been discussed in a previous post about Siglen, the most intact of the cluster of houses up here. Briefly, the cwm - the little high bowl-like valley - may have been the home of the 'Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd,' a long lived and ancient bird.

Although the house is ruined beyond recovery, the remains make a striking sight on the curve of the hill. It still has the shape of a home, rather than low, eroded walls.

 

The censuses reveal occupation back to 1841, but a will found on the National Library of Wales site for Margaret Abraham, of 'Brwynog isa' (the spelling varies between Isaf and Isa), dates back to 1798. Her possessions are not listed in detail, but the will does mention her son and many grandchildren, to most of whom she leaves two shillings and sixpence each. There are some special cases. Her granddaughter Mary Thomas receives £25 and all of the furniture. Her grandchildren Abraham, Jacob, and Susannah inherit all her sheep from Crafnant Farm. Grandchildren Richard and Mary receive nine pounds between them, and Mary half of her sheep from Brwynog Farm. She also leaves twenty shillings to the poor of the parish, and all the remainder of her goods, chattel, and cattle to son William Pierce of Brwynog. Margaret appears to have died in 1813.

 

The surnames mentioned are interesting. Why is Margaret's surname Abraham when her sons are Pierce? That could be explained by remarrying. But why do the children of Thomas Pierce, her son mentioned in her will, have the surname of Thomas? Are they still going by patronymics rather than inherited surnames? The forename 'Pierce' recurs frequently in the censuses for the Brwynog properties.

Read about Welsh patronymics here. Although patronymics were largely gone by the eighteenth century in Wales, it seems they did persist in some places and cases as late as 1900.

Again on the National Library of Wales site a will can be found for William Pierce (presumably Margaret's son), of Brwynog Isa, leaving all his money to his 'beloved wife Gwen Griffiths' in 1823 (again, 'Griffiths' is probably a patronymic). He also bequeaths his wife £30 to pass on to whomever she chooses after her death. He bequeaths his nephews and niece William Thomas, John Thomas, Robert Thomas, Abram Thomas, Jacob Thomas, and Susannah Thomas  '£2 of lawful British money, each.' To another niece, Mary Thomas (presumably Margaret's granddaughter, and daughter of her son Thomas Pierce), he leaves '£10 of lawful money of England,' and to nephew William Williams (perhaps his least favourite?) '£1 of lawful money of England.' Most of these nieces and nephews are mentioned in Margaret Abraham's will.

He also leaves ‘ten pounds of lawful money of England’, after the ‘death of the survivor of me and my said wife,’ to ‘William Roberts son of John Roberts Pylldu.’ He then leaves ‘everything I am possessed whatsoever or wheresoever to William Roberts, John Roberts and Anne Roberts, my executor’s children of John Roberts of Pylldu.' Perhaps he and Gwen were childless. By the 1841 census 'Brwynog' (isa or ucha is not mentioned, and there's a little confusion which will be mentioned later) is lived in by the Griffiths family, maybe relations of Gwen.

 

Updated in 1830, the will lists possessions from the kitchen such as ‘large table, settle, dresser, clock, butter cupboard.’ There are also ‘Warming pan, kettle and fire things, earthen ware, poringers (sic), Bible, stool.’ The dairy contains ‘Churn and his things, earthen ware, butter, butter & tups(?). The (bed)chamber contains cupboards, ‘bed & cloaths(sic)’, and a small chest and baskets. The ‘lofft’ contains another chest, ‘bed & cloaths,’ ‘4 hobets* of Oat Meal,’ sacks, a ‘spin wheel, small spin wheel, round table, chairs’ and another cupboard. The stable contains only ‘horse geers(sic).’

 

*A 'hobet' (there are various spellings) is a unit of measurement used in the nineteenth century in Wales for grains and lime, and varied depending on what was the commodity being measured.

 

Very interestingly, the next space mentioned is ‘Old House.’ Perhaps this is the building a little further away down the valley. This contains a lot of farming equipment including ‘plough, harrow, scythes, rakes, mattock & spades & iron crow, wasing tup (washing tub?), tups, hay iron, bil hook, hair roaps (sic), wheel-barrow, sledge.’

 

‘Out,’ the farmer owns eight sheep, two horses, four ponies, eleven cows, three cattle three year old, six cattle two year old, and seven one year old.

 

The sum of all of these possessions is £174 14s 6d.

From the front, it's easier to imagine what the house once looked like, with two windows flanking the front door and three windows upstairs. Note the asymmetry of the front, with more room to the left of the left window to account for the big fireplace at that end. 

A nearby outbuilding still in relatively good shape. This was a day of lashing rain and wind, and it's easy to see how buildings deteriorate in such conditions. 

The wooden beams of this lefthand ground floor window are rotting and falling down. The slate lintels are probably structural to a certain extent, but they're quite thin and have been carved to look decorative.

This lefthand window resembles a doorway because of the ground level outside. Perhaps some of this is grassed-over rubble.

Above the doorway, under the beams, a few remains of laths can be seen where the top of the doorway would have been plastered.

Inside the house, a small window, or perhaps a doorway to the rear extension, can be seen in the back wall. If this is a doorway, it shows the height of the rubble in the interior.

Some of the window lintels, possibly, lie on top of the rubble. Note the sawn edge of the lintel to the far right, and the height of the main fireplace to the left.

Possibly these ceramic tubes are the remains of a chimney lining. There may have been more internal fireplaces, and there's a suggestion of one in the north-east corner of the house which contains similar pipe. A lot of this fallen stone looks to have been quarried and brought to the location, rather than gleaned from the land around.

A piece of rubble with possibly some remains of render still attached to it, edging something.

More scattered remains of ceramic pipe. The amount would make sense in the context of a chimney lining, and it's near this north-east corner where there seems to have been a fireplace.

A close up of the ceramic pipe, which would have been about a foot in diameter.

This is the north-east corner of the building, with the pipe still in situ.

This large, curving stone construction around the chimney pipe seems integral to the original house, looking at how the stones key in under the window beam. It would be interesting to see if there were a fireplace beneath the rubble.

This seems an odd and unusual construction for a fireplace, pushed into the corner of the room like this.

A beam lying on the floor just on the inside of the front doorway.

The end of this beam over the south-east window - the lefthand from outside - is very rotten and frayed.

Looking at the first floor south-east window, the slate lintel construction can be seen, with very thin lintels.

Presumably these timbers have fallen from the floor above, or perhaps from the roof.

The timber seems to have been burnt at some point, perhaps by people playing around up here.

The end of the timber has rusted nails in it.

A closer look at the big fireplace at the southern end of the house, which is almost lost behind rubble. Perhaps iron ovens survive, protected by the stones.

The centre of the fireplace has been built out with brick. This nook is to the right end of the fireplace.

Only the upper levels of brick can be seen. The ovens and grate would be lower than this.

To the left of the fireplace, the side of the brick interior can be seen.

A roof slate in the rubble.

The fireplace has been built into a protrusion of stonework, forming a shelf on the first floor.

Upstairs, above the big fireplace, a small bedroom fireplace can be seen.

The chimney above the fireplaces, at the south end of the house.

The view of the house and its small garden, with a lone scots pine behind the house.

 

 

Standing in the front garden, a small wall can be made out covered in grass and moss. Just beyond are some of the outbuildings.

A ridge tile on the garden wall shows the tile to be from Buckley, Flintshire, once the site of 25 brickworks.

The stamp is that of the Catherall brickworks, established in the eighteenth century by Johnathan Catherall.

The south end of the house, partly buried in the slope of the hill, with the chimney stack still looking very stable.

Detail of this south-east corner of the building, with a timber running across the top of the wall level.

Detail of the chimney, with well faced stones which help to make it more stable.

An old and very damaged iron gate is being subsumed by the grass and earth.

At the back of the house, the west facing aspect, some render remains on the wall, and the remains of an extension can be seen.

These tumbled remains seem rather rougher than the house itself, and are rather hard to decipher because of their ruined condition.

A remnant of the roof has fallen and landed almost intact, with some of the slates still in their positions on the wood.

Inside the extension all is rubble and fallen timbers.

The corner of the extension, showing it would have been rendered at one point.

This north end of the house is typical of these buildings; the south end catches all of the weather that whips up the valley, and tends to lose its render, while the north end survives much better.

A doorway can be seen into this back extension.

The north end of the house, with its render surviving mostly uncracked, except where the wall has begun to fall.

The outbuildings seem to be more roughly constructed than the main house. It seems very likely that this is the stable mentioned in the will.

Joist holes can be seen inside, either side of this first floor northern doorway. It looks as if there would have been a window in this southern end.

The doorway into the southern chamber.

This southern end is far more intact than the northern.

The south-eastern corner of the outbuilding.

Hung on a piece of metal stuck in the wall is this lovely horseshoe, which lends credence to the thought that this was the stable.

These two pieces of iron were in a hole in the wall just to the left of the horseshoe.

The possible doorway with joist holes either side. Perhaps this provided communication between the upper floor of both cells, although it's interesting that the holes are above the bottom of the doorway.

In the corner, a large amount of fallen rubble.

Another roof ridge tile, although this one doesn't seem to have a maker's mark.

The inside of the northern cell, which is much more ruined.

A small amount of render survives on this wall.

The possible first floor doorway from the other side.

The view of the end of the house from the outbuilding.

Another abandoned gate, leaning against a fence post near the house.

Further away from the house are more conifers, larches this time, and more outbuildings. Perhaps this is the 'old house' of the 1830 will. The conifers planted around it are typical of houses up here.

As mentioned earlier, a little confusion comes in over 'Brwynog' when looking at the documentary evidence. Perhaps this outbuilding is the 'old house' of the 1830 will. But the 1841 census lists 'Brwynog' twice, as well as Brwynog Ucha. Pen y Bryn Brwynog is not specifically mentioned but 'Pen y Bryn' is mentioned in the right order to put it where it sits, near Siglen. So it seems that Pen y Bryn Brwynog, and Brwynog Ucha are both accounted for, with two extra Brwynogs on top. Were there people living in the 'old house' again at this point? It is possible, but it's also possible that there's another house unaccounted for on the maps. These houses disappear very quickly once uninhabited. Could it alternatively be possible that two families are sharing the one house? On Robert Dawson's 1822 map Brwynog Ucha and Brwynog Isa are both clearly marked, and the only other Brwynog to be seen is Pen y Bryn Brwynog.

The remains of a causeway leading to the outbuildings.

Looking from the south west, across the outbuildings to the hills beyond.

A relatively small cell in the outbuildings.

While the eastern wall is relatively intact, this back wall has tumbled almost to the ground in places.

A doorway between the two cells, partially blocked with stones, and with the wooden beams rotting and failing.

A closer look at the top of this doorway. It looks as if one of the beams has been burnt at some time, and the rocks are starting to drop above.

Inside the southern cell, which is a relatively large space. There's no sign of a fireplace in this building, although a much older house could have had a fire which let smoke out through the thatch instead of through a dedicated fireplace and chimney.

The doorway into this larger cell, with just the beam surviving above it.

A wider look at the doorway between the two cells.

The beam above the front door, winnowed down to knots and grain.

The southern wall is starting to collapse in places.

Looking back towards the site of the main house from the corner of the outbuilding.

The outside of this southern wall is rather beautiful, tightly built with lichen patterning the stones.

A view of the outbuilding from the east, with two doorways into the main cell. The end wall seems to be leaning inwards.

This appears to be the remains of another cell of the building, built onto the front of the eastern side.

The place has a little enclosure attached.

Another ruined building sits a little further away, but there seems to be little left of this, and the weather had deteriorated so much that, soaked and freezing, I didn't investigate.

Looking back towards the main house, which is just visible in the rain behind the tree in the foreground.

A last pass of the house on our way back to the car, freezing and windswept. It's unknown when the house was finally abandoned, but it has been suggested that the valley was deliberately cleared, or at least that the houses up here, once abandoned, were not re-occupied, due to fears of a dam disaster like that at Eigiau in 1925. Only a year before the Eigiau disaster, in 1924, the Cowlyd dam suffered a partial failure, and the reservoir has since been altered. I haven't been able to find the house in the 1939 census, but I think this may be due to a poor search facility rather than conclusive evidence that it wasn't inhabited at that time.

From a distance, the house looks lonely and vulnerable in this wild land.

A little way from the house, a sheepfold is built against the side of a rocky outcrop, which is probably associated with this farm, or, if not, with Brwynog Uchaf.