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VOLUME XLVII

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THE WELSH HOUSE

A Study in Folk Culture

BY

IORWERTH C. PEATE

Keeper of the Department of Folk Culture and Industries in the National Museum of Wales

LONDON

THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF CYMMRODORION

20 BEDFORD SQUARE

1 940

x>i\

1/. 17

MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM LEWIS (PRINTERS) LTD. , CARDIFF

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO

SIR DANIEL LLEUFER THOMAS, KT., M.A., LL.D., F.S.A.

A VICE-PRESIDENT OF

THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF CYMMRODORION

HIS PIONEER WORK IN WELSH SOCIOLOGY

INSPIRED IT

'DYLED, PARCH, HOFFTER'

PREFACE

This work is based on a field survey and the facts so collected have been supplemented by material from various written sources. Where it has been found possible, the evidence has been compared with that from other countries. The book is therefore for the greater part a systematic statement of facts actually observed in the field or collected in research. The accumulation of facts has led to several conclusions, but when theories have been put forward which cannot be proved con- clusively, their tentative nature — as merely working hypotheses which may be disproved when our knowledge is fuller — is noted in each case.

It will be observed that no distribution-maps are included in the book. The omission is deliberate. It was felt that such maps would not only be useless for the purpose intended but might be very misleading unless every example in existence of the various types were marked on each map. Even then, such maps could only indicate the 20th-century distribution of the types : that is, their only value would be as a record of modern conditions. For example, distribution-maps of existing timber-framed houses or long-houses or cruck- constructed houses would give little indication of the former incidence of these types in Wales. Some critics feel that the value of distribution-maps in archaeological work is grossly over-estimated : be that as it may, it is certain that some of the methods adopted in archaeological research cannot be applied to the study of a living culture.

No apology is needed for writing the book in English although an explanation may be of value. I should have preferred to have written it in Welsh ; but there is an increasing and welcome tendency amongst research-workers who are members of small nations to write scientific works in one or other of the great international languages. (The only exceptions to such a rule are works dealing with language and literature which

viii THE WELSH HOUSE

can be of use only to those who have mastered the language concerned.) As an instance of this practice Folk-Liv, the only journal of Folk Culture in existence, is published from Stockholm in English, German and French. In the present instance, quotations in Welsh in the work have been printed, for the sake of accuracy and as a true record, in that language and translated into English.

In the preparation of a study of this nature, any worker must depend to a high degree upon the co-operation of a large number of helpers in various directions. I acknowledge with gratitude the co-operation of many friends throughout Wales who in several ways facilitated my field-work. Sir Leonard Twiston Davies, K.B.E. F.S.A. (Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire), Mr. W. Fergusson Irvine, M.A., F.S.A. (Merionethshire), Mr. J. B. Willans, F.S.A. (Montgomeryshire), Mr. E. Emrys Jones (Montgomeryshire), Mr. W. Gilbert Williams, M.A. (Caernarvonshire) and Mr. Harold Davey (Denbighshire) gave me every facility to visit houses in certain parts of the counties mentioned. The names of persons who have helped me with individual houses and problems are mentioned in the text and footnotes, but special mention must be made of Mr. Llew. Morgan, Ystradgynlais, who photographed a number of houses for me and provided me with many details concerning them ; Mr. Sam Ellis, Utica, New York, who has spared no trouble in giving me detailed descriptions of houses in north Montgomery- shire as he knew them in his boyhood days ; the Rev. E. Lewis Evans, M.A., Pontardulais ; Mr. J. J. Evans, M.A., St. David's ; Mr. Theodore Gibbins, Neath ; the Rev. T. Jones, Trecastle ; Mr. Hugh Owen, M.A., F.S.A., Llanfair-pwll ; the Rev. Gomer M. Roberts, Pontrhyd-y-fen ; Mr. R. D. Webb, Cardiff ; Mr. E. I. Williams, Whitchurch ; Mr. W. Rees Williams, B.Sc, Aberdare and Mrs. T. Williams, Trimsaran. My father's expert knowledge of rural building and of the Welsh countryside proved of the greatest value.

On individual points of a technical nature, I acknowledge with gratitude the advice and opinions, freely given, of Dr. Sigurd Erixon, Stockholm ; Mr. W. F. Grimes, M.A., F.S.A., Southampton ; Professor Henry Lewis, M.A., D.Litt., Swansea ;

PREFACE ix

Sir John Edward Lloyd, M.A., D.Litt., F.B.A., F.S.A. ; Pro- fessor Alf Sommerfelt, D.-és.-L., Oslo and of my colleague, Mr. W. E. Howarth, F.G.S. My colleague, Dr. F. J. North, F.G.S., Reeper of the Department of Geology in the National Museum of Wales, kindly read through the typescript of Chapter II, and made many suggestions and corrections. He is not however responsible for any errors which may still remain in it. Throughout the period of the survey, my friend, Professor Ifor Williams, M.A., D.Litt., F.B.A., F.S.A., gave his advice unstintingly on many linguistic problems and his ready help is recorded gratefully. In the same way, Sir Cyril Fox, Ph.D., V.P.S.A., Director of the National Museum of Wales, was always ready to discuss any problem which arose : I am grate- ful to him for advice on many matters. Most of the subjects treated in this volume were discussed from time to time with my colleague, Mr. Ffransis G. Payne, who has made many helpful suggestions. Miss E. H. Edwards, F.L.A., Librarian of the National Museum of Wales, was of the greatest service in securing for my use many of the books consulted, copies of several of which were difncult to obtain ; my debt to her is great.

The greater part of the field-work was undertaken during vacations and week-ends : some of it was carried out during short periods of leave kindly granted me for that purpose by the Director and Council of the National Museum of Wales, who are also to be thanked for allowing me to reproduce a number of the plates. I acknowledge with gratitude the help of the Board of Celtic Studies of the University of Wales which made an annual grant over several years towards the cost of the survey. The following are thanked for allowing me to use certain illustrations and, in the cases mentioned, for lending blocks : the Editors of Archaeologia Cambrensis (for the blocks of figs. 2, 32-52, 56-7, and plates 50-3 and 71) ; Mr. Leonard Monroe, A.R.I.B.A. (fig. 56-7 and plate 71) ; Mr. C. W. Phillips, M.A., F.S.A. (fig. 2) ; Mr. Herbert Felton, F.R.P.S. (plate 54) and Messrs. B. T. Batsford, Ltd. (who generously supplied a duplicate of the block from The English Cottage by H. Batsford and C. Fry) ; Mr. M. F. H. Lloyd (fig. 6)

x THE WELSH HOUSE

and The Powysland Club ; Mr. B. H. St. J. O'Neil, M.A., F.S.A. and H.M. Office of Works (fig. 3) and the Society of Antiquaries (who supplied the block from The Antiguaries Journal, July, 1936) ; Miss M. Wight ; The Directors of the Gregynog Press (figs. 53-4) ; Mr. W. J. Hemp, M.A., F.S.A. (plates 68, 70) ; The Cambridge University Press (for lending the blocks of plates from The Develoỳment of English Building Construction by C. F. Innocent) ; H.M. Stationery Office (plates 11, 13, 17, 81-4) ; Mr. Ifan ab Owen Edwards, M.A. (plate 72 from Cymru edited by his father) and Mr. J. Watts (plates 57-64, photographs by his father). The Editors of Antiauity generously made available the sixteen blocks of the illustrations accompanying my paper on 'Some Welsh Houses' which appeared in the December 1936 issue of that journal.

Finally, my warmest thanks are due to Mr. Llewelyn Wyn Griffith for his constant encouragement and to Mr. T. C. Hart and the printing staff of Messrs. William Lewis (Printers) Limited for their personal interest and co-operation in the production of this volume.

IORWERTH C. PEATE

March, 1940

CONTENTS

Preface

Contents

List of illustrations

Chapter I. Introduction . .

II. Building Materials III. The Circular House

The Rectangular House : The Long-House The Rectangular House : The Cottage The House of the Welsh Laws Some Stone and Half-Timbered Houses Building Construction

Page

IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. Epilogue Bibliography Index

vn

xi

xiii

1

10

37

59

98

129

154

183

214

215

225

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Plates.

Frontispiece. Bryn-mawr, Llanerfyl, Montgomeryshire.

Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

1. Braichmelyn, Dinas Mawddwy, Merionethshire. Note the use of

large boulders of igneous rock in the walling. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

2. Circular pigsty, Blaen Gwenffrwd, Llanover, Monmouthshire. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

3. Circular pigsty, Hendre, Pontypridd, Glamorganshire. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

4. Circular pigsty, Penddeucae-fach, Bedlinog, Glamorganshire. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

5. Circular pigsty, The Downs, Llantwit Major, Glamorganshire. Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

6. Interior of circular pigsty, The Downs, LlantwitMajor, Glamorgan-

shire, showing the corbelling technique. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

7. Circular pigsty, Blaen-ddôl, Usk Valley, Trecastle, Brecknockshire. Copyright . Llew. E. Morgan.

8. Charcoal-burners' hut, Rockley, Stainborough, Yorkshire. Copyright: Cambridge Unẁersity Press. (From C. F. Innocent :

The Development of English Building Construction.)

9. Abernodwydd, Llangadfan, Montgomeryshire, 1937.

Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

10. Farmhouse in the Hautes Alpes.

11. Lan, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire. Based on Royal Commission on

Land in Wales: Report, p. 696, with the permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Oíîice.

12. Tŷ'r celyn, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire.

13. Blaenwaun, Llansadwrn, Carmarthenshire. Based on Royal Com-

mission on Land in Wales : Report, p. 696, with the permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.

14. Cwmeilath, Llansadwrn, Carmarthenshire.

15. Llwyn-rhys, Llanbadarn Odwyn, Cardiganshire. Photo: W. R.Hall.

16. Llwyn-rhys, Llanbadarn Odwyn, Cardiganshire. Photo : D. J. Davies.

17. Nant-y-ffin, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire. Based on Royal Com-

mission on Land in Wales : Report, p. 696, with the permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.

18. Ty'ndolau, Llangeitho, Cardiganshire. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

19. Ty'n-coed uchaf, Blaencaron, Cardiganshire : front.

Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

20. Ty'n-coed uchaf, Blaencaron, Cardiganshire : back.

Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

Xiv THE WELSH HOUSE

Plates

21. Gwastod, Abermeurig, Cardiganshire.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museuni of Wales.

22. Gwndwn, Pencader, Carmarthenshire.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

23. Coedlannau, Pencader, Carmarthenshire.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

24. Doorway, Whithen, Pencader, Carmarthenshire, leading into

íeeding-walk. The entrance into the kitchen can be seen on the right. Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

25. Maes-y-bidiau, Abergorlech, Carmarthenshire. Copyright: Llew. E. Morgan.

26. Erw Domi, Porth-y-rhyd, Carmarthenshire. Copyright: Llew. E. Morgan.

27. Hepste Fawr, Penderyn, Brecknockshire. Copyright: Llew. E. Morgan.

28. Hepste Fawr, Penderyn, Brecknockshire : view from kitchen into

cow-house. Copyright: Llew. E. Morgan.

29. Dinas Isaf, Pen-y-graig, Rhondda, Glamorganshire. Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

30. Dinas Isaf, Pen-y-graig, Rhondda, Glamorganshire : view from

kitchen-doorway into cow-house. Photo: I.C.Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

31. Ciloerwynt, Dyffryn Claerwen, Radnorshire.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

32. Cefn-hirfryn, Cynghordy, Carmarthenshire. Note the kiln-room. Copyright: Llew. E. Morgan.

33. Glan-'rafon, St. Harmon's, Radnorshire.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

34. Llannerch-y-cawr, Cwm Elan, Radnorshire.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

35. The deserted countryside : a view in the Brecknockshire Beacons

upland : note the sites of two former houses and the indica- tions of former ploughing. Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

36. Cottage, Pont-rhyd-fendigaid, Cardiganshire, 1910. Photo : W. R. Hall.

37. Pensarn-mynach, Cribyn, Cardiganshire. The addition on the

right is later. Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

38. Great Mains, Llaethdy, Radnorshire.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

39. Ffynnon Goy Isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : loft overbedroom. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

40. Paradise Cottage, Leighton, Welshpool, Montgomeryshire : crog-

lofft entrance. Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

41. Llain-wen isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : front. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv

Llain-wen isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : back. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

43. Carn-deifog fach, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : the tyddyn in rela-

tion to the moor. Copyright : National Museum o/ Wales.

44. Carn-deifog isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : interior, roof. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

45. Ty'n-rhosgadfa, Rhosgadfan, Caernarvonshire.

Photo : I . C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

46. Llainfadyn, Rhos-isaf, Caernarvonshire.

Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

47. Cae Rhys, near Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire, once the home of

Sir Owen M. Edwards. The lower door replaces a window. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

48. Bryn-mawr, Llanerfyl, Montgomeryshire : front.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

49. Cottage, St. Nicholas, Vale of Glamorgan.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

50. Gwrhyd Bach, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : recess.

51. Llaethdy, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : interior view.

52. Llaethdy, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : interior view.

53. Hendre Einon, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : exterior. Plates 50-3 from Arch. Camb., 1902.

54. Cottage at Selworthy, Somersetshire.

Photo: Herbert Felton, F.R.P.S.: from H. Batsford and C. Fry : The English Cottage (Messrs. B. T. Batsford, Ltd.).

55. Rhydonnen, Gellifor, Denbighshire.

Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum ofWales.

56. Galch Hill, Denbigh.

Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

57. Plas Uchaf, Eglwysegl, Denbighshire. Photo: James Watts.

58. Lymore, Montgomery. Photo: James Watts.

59. Penrhos, Montgomeryshire. Photo: James Watts.

60. Trewern, Buttington, Montgomeryshire. Photo : James Watts.

61 . Maes-mawr, Caersws, Montgomeryshire. Photo: James Watts.

62. Penarth, near Newtown, Montgomeryshire. Photo: James Watts.

63. Talgarth, Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire. Photo : James Watts.

64. Rhyd-y-carw, Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire. Photo: James Watts.

65. Cefncloddiau, Llawr-y-glyn — Staylittle district, Montgomeryshire. Photo: I . C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

xvi THEWELSHHOUSE

Plates

66. Timbering of a barn in south Yorkshire.

Copyright : Cambridge Unẁersity Press (from C. F. Innocent : The Development of English Building Construction).

67. Glan-y-wern, Llandyrnog, Denbighshire.

Photo: I . C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

68. Cruck constructed building, Yale district, Denbighshire. Photo: W. J. Hemp, M.A., F.S.A.

69. Cruck-constructed cottage, Hawarden, Flintshire.

Copyright : Cambridge University Press (from C. F. Innocent : The Derelopment of English Building Construction) .

70. Y Gilfach, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, Merionethshire. Photo: W. J. Hemp, M.A., F.S.A.

71. Cruck construction, Lloran Ganol, Llansilin, Montgomeryshire— Denbighshire border. From Arch. Camb., 1933.

72. Llwyn-rhys, Llanbadarn Odwyn, Cardiganshire : interior view of

cruck. From Cymru, 1901, by courtesy of Ifan ab Owen Edwards, M.A.

73. Cae Crwn, Glanmorfa, Portmadoc, Caernarvonshire.

Copyright : Cambridge Unẃersity Press (from C. F. Innocent : The Development of English Building Construction).

74. Llainfadyn, Rhos-isaf, Caernarvonshire : showing use of large

boulders in the walling. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

75. Porch of a cottage near Waterfall Station on the Snowdon Moun-

tain Railway, Caernarvonshire : note the dry-walling. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

76. Painted mural decoration, of early 17th-century type at Brogynin,

Penrhyn-coch, Cardiganshire, now in the National Museum of Wales. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright: National Museum of Wales.

77. Pitched floor, Plasau Duon, Carno, Montgomeryshire. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

78. Pitched iìoor, Pen-rhiw, Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire. Photo: I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

79. Tan-yr-ardd, Rhostryfan, Caernarvonshire : detail of roof showing

rods tied together, surmounted by clods. Photo : I. C. Peate. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

80. Pair of interlocking ridge-tiles from Caerphilly, Glamorganshire,

now in the National Museum of Wales. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

81. Wattling of a chimney louvre, Carmarthenshire.

82. Thatched chimney-'pot', Carmarthenshire.

83. Rim of clay daub appearing over thatch, Carmarthenshire.

84. Developed wattle-and-daub chimney-pot, Carmarthenshire. Plates 81-4 are from the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments

in Wales and Monmouthshire's Inventory V : County of Carmar- then, by permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.

85. Chimney-pot of wooden boards, New Quay, Cardiganshire. Photo: Miss M. Wight.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii

Plates

S6. 'In-and-out' partitioning from Penyberth, Llŷn, Caernarvonshire, now in the National Museum of Wales. Copyright : National Museum of Wales.

Figures.

1 . A simplified geological map of Wales.

2. Plan of circular hut at Parc Dinmor, Penmon, Anglesey. From Arch. Camb., 1932, p. 251.

3. Plan of House I, Caerau, Clynnog, Caernarvonshire. After Antiquaries Journal, 1936, p. 301.

4. Gaulish huts on the Antonine column.

5. Framework of Stone Age hut, Räisälä, Finland. After Sigurd

Erixon in Folkliv, 1937, p. 134.

6. Plan of Abernodwydd, Llangadfan, Montgomeryshire. Based on plan in Mont. Coll., 1935-6, p. 85.

7. The 'Saxon' house.

8. Lan, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

9. Cwmeilath, Llansadwrn, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

10. Blaenwaun, Llansadwrn, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

11. Tŷ'r celyn, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

12. Esgair, Llansadwrn, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

13. Nant-y-fnn, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

14. Ystradaman, Betws, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

15. Ty'ndolau, Llangeitho, Cardiganshire : ground plan.

16. Nannerth Canol, Rhayader, Radnorshire : ground plan.

17. Gwndwn, Pencader, Carmarthenshire : ground plan.

18. Hepste Fawr, Penderyn, Brecknockshire : ground plan.

19. Llannerch-y-cawr, Cwm Elan, Radnorshire : ground plan.

20. Ciloerwynt, Dyffryn Claerwen, Radnorshire : ground plan.

21. Pant-y-drain, Kerry, Montgomeryshire : ground plan.

22. Map of the Llanychaer (Pembrokeshire) area, by Sir Cyril Fox.

The open moorland and tyddynnod are shown in red. (Based on the Ordnance Survey Map, by permission of H.M. Stationery Office.) From Antiçuity, 1937, p. 429.

23. Pensarn-mynach, Cribyn, Cardiganshire : ground plan.

24. Great Mains, Llaethdy, Radnorshire : ground plan.

25. Llain-wen isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : ground plan. By Sir

Cyril Fox.

26. Llain-wen isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : longitudinal section.

By Sir Cyril Fox.

27. Llain-wen isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : cross-section. By Sir

Cyril Fox.

28. Carn-deifog isaf, Llanychaer, Pembrokeshire : sketch plan of

tyddyn. By Sir Cyril Fox.

29. Ty'n-rhosgadfa, Rhosgadfan, Caernarvonshire : ground plan.

30. Bryn-mawr, Llanerfyl, Montgomeryshire : ground plan.

31. Cottage, Rhos-isaf, Caernarvonshire : ground plan.

32. Farmhouse, Strata Florida, Cardiganshire : ground plan.

B

xviii THE WELSH HOUSE

Figures

33. Farmhouse, Strata Florida, Cardiganshire : exterior.

34. Farmhouse, Strata Florida, Cardiganshire : exterior.

35. Farmhouse, Strata Florida, Cardiganshire : interior.

36. Farmhouse, Strata Florida, Cardiganshire : interior showing fire-

place. Figs. 32-6 from Arch. Camb., 1899.

37. Typical ground plan of farmhouse at St. David's, Pembrokeshire.

38. Llaethdy, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : cross-section.

39. Porch and doorway, Llaethdy, St. David's, Pembrokeshire.

40. Round chimney, Llaethdy, St. David's, Pembrokeshire.

41. Llaethdy, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : ground plan.

42. Llaethdy, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : exterior view.

43. Porth-mawr, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : ground plan.

44. Porth-mawr, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : exterior view.

45. Clegyr Foea, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : exterior view.

46. Rhoson Uchaf, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : exterior view.

47. Rhoson Uchaf, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : front.

48. Trefeiddan, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : exterior view.

49. Trefeiddan, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : detail of front.

50. Trefeiddan, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : doorway.

51. Hendre Einon, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : fireplace.

52. Pwllcaerog, St. David's, Pembrokeshire : exterior. Figs. 37-52 from Arch. Camb., 1902.

53. Bachelldre, Churchstoke, Montgomeryshire.

From a woodcut by R. A. Maynard, by courtesy of The Gregynog Press.

54. Lack, Churchstoke, Montgomeryshire.

From a woodcut by R. A. Maynard, by courtesy of The Gregynog Press.

55. Cruck at Hafod Ysbyty, Merionethshire. After G. J. Williams : Hanes Plwyf Ffestiniog.

56. Cruck at Lloran Ganol, Llansilin, Denbigbshire. From Arch. Camb., 1933.

57. Truss at Plas Ucha, Llangar, Merionethshire. From Arch. Camb., 1933.

58. Floor designs, Solva, Pembrokeshire, 1908.

CHAPTER I

Introduction

Folk Culture as a subject for serious scientiíìc research has only recently come into its own in this island and that, to a high degree, only in Wales. It follows that most of the problems relating to the cultural development of the British peoples have been looked upon as topics either subordinate to aspects of political or economic history or as 'bygones' elucidating the study of prehistoric archaeology. The miscellaneous collections of 'bygones' in so many national and provincial museums, displayed as appendages to archaeological research and the complete neglect of Folk Culture in all our universities are proof of this neglect of the subject as an independent science.

The 'dependent existence' to quote Professor Sigurd Eri^on1 of Folk Culture 'as an ambulating guest of certain branches of science' down to our own time has resulted in difficulties which have now become almost insuperable but which did not exist even fifty years ago. The unparalleled development of what has been aptly called the Machine Age, and the application to social needs of scientific invention in all its branches have resulted in a metamorphosis of country life to a degree beyond comparison with the growth of civilization in any other age. The development of transport has put the most inaccessible moorland village within the reach of populous areas : the mechanisation of industry, agriculture in particular, has caused the overthrow of many traditional methods : the centralization of authority both in marketing and in local government has resulted in a phenomenal change in the social economy of the countryside. Side by side with these factors in the trans- figuration of our rural life must be considered the growth of education and a quickening social consciousness which have resulted in the improvement of the countryman's living conditions and in the large-scale abandonment both of methods

1 Folkliv, I, 1937, p. 5.

2 THE WELSH HOUSE

of labour and of houses and outbuildings which could only be described as primitive. While all these developments have been in varying degrees beneficial, their cumulative effect for the student of Folk Culture was to destroy a mass of evidence of the greatest importance in unravelling the story of our traditional culture.

This is in no way better exemplified than by the changes affecting houses in Wales. Down to the last decade of the 19th century, Government Blue Boolcs and other authoritative sources contain descriptions of houses of a most primitive character in the Welsh countryside. But in the present century most of these houses have disappeared completely. In another chapter, it will be seen how it has been impossible to discover in the past few years a type of house described in detail as existing in 1893.1 Country landlords of large estates, conscious of their social duties to their tenants, have carried out extensive schemes of rebuilding farmhouses or of restoring them to such a degree that their traditional features have been completely eliminated. The progress made in sanitary and similar laws — although much remains to be accomplished2 — has made necessary the reconstruction of hundreds of houses. A less pleasant feature of this transformation in country housing was the introduction, principally after the European War 1914-18, of 'council houses'. In many instances these replaced old cottages which were native to their environment however much their internal accommodation could be criticized. The new houses however seem too of ten to conform to a standardized pattern adopted indiscriminately by local authorities without thought for the particular requirements of their own areas. There are notable exceptions, but it is unfortunately true that in many areas, the new housing schemes have no regard for 'decency' in architecture nor is any serious attention paid to the relationship of houses to their environment.

This deplorable attitude, so well illustrated in modern housing schemes, is not an entirely new factor in the history of

1 See p. 48.

* See the Report of the Committee of Inguiry into the Anti-Tuberculosis Service in Wales and Monmouthshire (1939).

INTRODUCTION 3

Welsh housing. During the 19th century, evictions for political reasons and emigration to America and to the industrial areas of south Wales, together with the effects of the enclosure movement, resulted in many districts in large numbers of farmhouses and cottages becoming untenanted. A contem- porary obser^er1 in the parish of Llanbrynmair, Montgomery- shire, lists as many as 106 such houses which became unoccupied in that parish within his own memory. That this should happen at a time — the mid 19th-century — when a general vitiation of good taste in architecture was apparent was nothing short of a tragedy. The result, later in the century, was the building of a large number of houses distinguished only by their lack of decency in design and of good taste in materials. Judging by the widespread distribution in Wales of houses of the second half of the 19th century, this development in building must have been almost universal. Coinciding as it did with the develop- ment of rail transport and the production in great quantities of Welsh slates and of red and yellow pressed bricks2 it changed the whole character of the Welsh countryside and created for Welsh villages, in particular, a reputation of unattractive ugliness which many of them deserve. The unintelligent use of such materials as corrugated-iron, in the present century, completed the tragedy.

The student of the Welsh house has therefore to work under serious disadvantages. Much of the material has been destroyed and much so tampered with as to be valueless. The original material with which he is concerned — the traditional types — outcrops only here and there from beneath a deep stratum of a later overlying culture. So extensive is this layer that some students have maintained from time to time that Wales has no architecture. Since this view is fundamental to the subject of this book — the Welsh House — it must be examined here.

Wales is a country of high undulating moorland and of deep valleys, with a consistently high rainfall. Until recent times it has had no large cities or towns. Its community has always

1 Peate, David : Hen Ffyrdd a Hen Dai adfeiliedig Llanbrynmair (in MSS.), 1887.

2 See Chapter II.

4 THE WELSH HOUSE

been essentially peasant in character. For the last three hundred years it has had no separate political existence and its social and economic life therefore has been linked with that of England, which is not separated from it by any natural boundary. These, in brief, are the important factors in assessing Welsh architectural attainment. A wet moorland does not lend itself to the development of architectural forms based on the rich cultures of the sunny Mediterranean. A city- less peasant community does not foster the erection of noble public buildings. A nation bereft of its sovereignty cannot promote the growth of the fìne arts except by indirect and generally innocuous means. In such a country, incorporated moreover since 1536 in a neighbouring virile state, the only national architecture is peasant architecture. In the 18th and 19th centuries when the professional architect had emerged as a necessary member of most European communities, his influence in Wales was felt only on the houses of the rich and on the public buildings of the prosperous towns and cities. But the rich in Wales were almost universally anglicized and the prosperous towns were those of the industrial areas which were then breaking away from the traditional Welsh peasant culture to become anglicized but deraciné areas. There was no incentive or need for a school of professional architects in the Welsh rural community. Consequently the mansions of the country squires and the buildings of the anglicized towns are almost without exception English in inspiration, but mildly conditioned at times by the particular needs of their environ- ment. And when the time came for the erection of national structures on a grand scale, most of them found a home in the new city of Cardiff, others in Aberystwyth and Bangor and Swansea, but all conforming to a well-established classical tradition and divorced in conception, design and materials from the unpretentious architecture of the traditional Welsh community. In this respect, it is true to say that there is no Welsh architecture. Such buildings indeed are the work of Welsh- or English-bom architects working in a supra-national tradition which has not found a peculiar Welsh expression.

Is there then such an expression in any Welsh building ?

INTRODUCTION 5

The answer is to be found in the dwelling-houses of the Welsh folk. Tn peasant architecture the fundamental issues in building are made more clearly apparent. Social, climatic and geographical conditions all combine to produce an architec- ture in which fashion or style play little or no part. The primitive need for shelter from the sun and rain induces the peasant folk to build shelter for themselves and their cattle. There are no architects. The peasant knows his wants and builds. With his meagre resources he builds as simply as possible in the local material available. He is able to conceive and create his work because of the simplicity of his life and needs. It is a clear expression of his life, simple and direct. . . . The abstract and purely aesthetic beauty of a column, the decorative effect of a frieze are outside his comprehension. A plain white wall, a dark window-opening, a red-tiled roof, these he understands not for their aesthetic but for their practical value. Utility comes first. Beauty follows, resulting naturally from the constructive elements and the colour and texture of the materials.'1

The Welsh house — be it farmhouse or cottage — is therefore an expression of Welsh life — indeed, a facet of it, for the peasant life is always indivisible. It follows therefore that the folk dwelling varies according to the climatic and geographical conditions of the locality in which it is found and also according to the social condition of its occupant or builder and his economic status. In the same way 'true peasant architecture knows no time : it represents the past, present and future.'2 The creation of new social and economic conditions such as have been indicated on the preceding pages has resulted in a desire for the amelioration of peasant life and for the creation of styles artificially governed. As in every aspect of folk life, this departure from the natural or the traditional to the artificial has resulted in a betrayal of the normal decencies of the countryside. But the betrayal is an unconscious one and education in the value of the old tradition and in the methods

1 Ling, A. G. : 'Peasant Architecture in the Northern Provinces of Spain' in Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1936, p. 845.

2 Ibid., p. 846.

6 THE WELSH HOUSE

of developing it to suit present social needs will provide the only solution for the present 'desecration of the countryside' which many deplore but which some only criticize unintelligently.

This book is the story of a long pilgrimage extending over a period of twelve years. It has been of a dual nature : on the one hand wanderings through the thirteen counties of Wales in search of the houses to be described on the following pages. Many of the journeys were fruitless and all too frequently it was found that the houses searched for had disappeared or been replaced by new buildings. An example may be quoted. Llwyn-rhys,1 near Llangeitho, Cardiganshire, was photographed before the 1914-18 war by the late W. R. Hall of Aberystwyth. The photograph shows a long-house of great interest. Through great good fortune the house was examined shortly afterwards by Mr. W. J. Hemp, M.A. F.S.A., who pronounced it to be of 15th-century date, with a 17th-century addition built to serve as the fìrst Nonconformist Meeting House in Cardigan- shire. The house had a thatched roof. It was again photo- graphed by Mr. D. J. Davies, of Lampeter, when it had a cor- rugated-iron roof. I visited the district in 1930 to make a detailed survey and plan of this important structure, but to my consternation discovered that it had completely disappeared. This is what had happened : during the last years of the war, corrugated-iron sheeting became scarce. The owner of the now-uninhabited Llwyn-rhys after valiant attempts (unfor- tunately directed to the wrong quarter) to have the house scheduled as an ancient monument, stripped the sheeting which he required for other purposes from the roof. The rain penetrated through the leaky thatch and completely ruined the mud walls which fell in. The timbering which endangered the farm stock was then pulled down and in this way one of the most important historical monuments in Cardiganshire dis- appeared for all time.

This is not an isolated example. In a large number of instances, I have followed in the wake of destruction of this nature, much of it thoughtless and unnecessary. In some

1 See pp. 78-9.

INTRODUCTION 7

other instances, my visits were providential. Bryn-mawr, Llanerfyl (see p. 118), visited in the summer of 1938, appeared to be secure for many years. It was occupied by a young farmer and his family and had the appearance of a snug and comfortable — although isolated — dwelling. A month or two after my visit, its occupants had left and the house abandoned : it is likely that its fate will be that of several other homesteads in the locality. It will never again be occupied.

This desertion of the open moorland — indeed in many cases, of the countryside — was one of the outstanding facts made obvious during the course of the survey. 'Of eighteen cottages visited and measured at Llanychaer [Pembrokeshire] . . . only three were still inhabited : it is still more significant that of the fifteen unoccupied cottages, seven had been deserted within the last few ^-ears. That this refusal of a traditional mode of life is primarily due to primitive conditions in the cottages is improbable : rather, it is the croft system that has broken down in the area. We must suppose that the life is too hard, the rewards too slight, the inconveniences of isolation too manifest. The croft cannot today yield a "li^ing".'1 This movement from the countryside is however, as has been stressed, continuous from the 19th century (see pp. 99-100). In 1899, a writer notes conceming a neighbouring district of north Pembrokeshire : 'Peth dynnai fy sylw oedd nifer mawr o fythynod a mân dyddynod wedi syrthio . . . Cyfrifais tros ddeugain'. [What drew my attention was the large number of ruined cottages. ... I counted over forty.]2 Unfortunately in such areas as Llanychaer, in the Vale of Glamorgan, in Llŷn, in Monmouthshire, in Merionethshire and in Cardiganshire, the destructive 'march of Time' has been hastened by the action of the British Defence Ministries which have occupied so many areas of rural Wales. The wanton and unintelligent destruction by the Air Ministry of Penyberth in Llýn, a house with 15th- century features, and with strong historical associations, is well-known. The timbering was hacked down and sold for

1 Fox, Sir Cyril : 'Peasant Crofts in North Pembrokeshire', in Antiquity, 1937, p. 439. 2Cymru, 1899, II, p. 112.

8 THE WELSH HOUSE

firewood. Providentially, a neighbouring farmer acquired examples of the earlier features and through his generosity a wooden window-head and a length of oak panelling, both of late 15th-century date, are now in the National Museum of Wales. The Ministries have since come to an arrangement with the Museum whereby the Museum authorities examine the sites before they are 'developed', with a view to the preser- vation of antiquities. This is however little solace to a nation whose rural amenities and traditional culture are ruthlessly assailed by such 'developments'.

There is much to be said — if we wish to assess the extent of the survival in modern times of old types — for a careful survey of the distribution of every type of house in Wales, and the preparation of detailed distribution-maps of all such types, with measured plans and descriptions of each variation. It became obvious to me that such a survey was beyond the ability of a Museum official worlcing on his own with but a few short weeks each summer in which to do the work. Indeed, most of the work on which this volume is based was carried out during short annual summer vacations sacrificed for this purpose. Such detailed surveying, parish by parish, is essential and will be carried out, if circumstances permit, over many years. But it was felt that this study should not be delayed until such work had been completed. By traversing every county enough information has been obtained to justify the present publication of a study of Welsh houses. The subsequent careful plotting of types will no doubt correct certain details but the main principles have thus been determined. It is hoped therefore that this work will induce other workers to assist in detailed surveys of their own areas to secure the plotting of minutiae beyond the scope of this volume.

The second aspect of the 'pilgrimage' involved an exhaustive study of references to Welsh houses in literature and in manu- script sources. The starting-point for such a study had to be the monumental Report of the Royal Commission on Land in Wales. Its exhaustive section on farm-dwellings and its Bibliography, both the work of Sir Daniel Lleufer Thomas, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A., have been invaluable in the preparation

INTRODUCTION 9

of this work. It was the present author's good fortune to come into close contact with Sir Lleufer in 1926 and it was on his advice and with his encouragement that this work was begun.1 Sir Lleufer's breadth of vision and scholarship, discernible in every field of Welsh historical research, was nowhere more evident than in his careful record of farmhouses and cottages and his descriptions, always marked by scientific accuracy, of their structure and economy. No less important in every respect is Sir Lleufer's less-known work included in the Reỳort on the Agricultural Labourer in Wales, one of the publications of the Royal Commission on Labour.

Contemporary descriptions of houses in Wales are unfor- tunately not numerous. Many of the English travellers of the late 18th- early 19th centuries have contented themselves with dismissing the subject with phrases such as 'miserable hovels'. Occasionally, however, detailed descriptions are given. While it is well-known that most of the travellers who 'discovered' Wales at that period were deplorably ignorant of Welsh life and history which they therefore delineated in a prejudiced and garbled fashion, it is obvious too that where their descrip- tions depended on personal observation they are generally accurate. Consequently, it was found necessary to read through the voluminous literature of that period about Wales in English as well as all available references in Welsh. For the English works the exhaustive lists in the appendices to Mr. W. J. Hughes's Wales and the Welsh in English Literature formed a basis for my reading. The task was arduous and long. For the early 19th century too, the Report of the Commission on the State of Education in Wales (1847) and several other Blue Books gave many details. A complete bibliography of the relevant literary sources consulted is printed at the end of this work.

1 The work took definite shape after a discussion in 1934 between Dr. Âke Campbell and Professor C. von Sydow of Sweden, Mr. Séamas Ô Duilearga of Eire, and the writer. Dr. Campbell's own work on the Irish house has been a valuable example in preparing this volume.

CHAPTER II

Building Materials

The use and character of building materials in folk architecture can never be determined completely by one factor, although from time to time some writers have tended to emphasize certain factors at the expense of others. It has already been stressed1 that the peasant builds as simply as possible in the local material available, but the nature of that material varies in most districts. The variation depends upon many circum- stances amongst which may be mentioned geographical position, climate, height above sea level, soil and topography, geological conditions and the tractability of the materials available. It is intended here to discuss the materials used in Wales in relation to such factors as these.

Wales forms a part of the Highland Zone of western Britain.2 It may be looked upon as an upland fortress on the edge of a lowland extending from the English Plain to the Ural Mountains. Over this 'sea of lowland' the tides of centuries have swept to break upon the fortress of the west. Wales has often been compared with Palestine : there are directions in which the comparison can be made. Much of the life of the Holy Land has been conditioned by that of the Syrian Desert beyond. Wales can be understood only by reference to the lowlands beyond its eastern fringe.

We are concerned therefore with an upland country of moor and mountain beyond a vast lowland area; an upland, too, that has become the 'refuge' of ancient racial types, of bygone cus- toms and forgotten things. This moorland plateau has been dissected by rivers flowing north, east, south and west in deep- cut ravines and broad valleys which radiate from the upland like the spokes of a mighty wheel. One of the principal effects

ip.5.

2 For a survey of the signifìcance of the Highland Zone in prehistoric and early historic times see Fox, Sir Cyril : The Personality of Britain (Third Èdit., 1938).

10