Brithdir Isaf (OS Grid Ref SO)

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The following description is reproduced by courtesy of of RCAHMW Aberystwyth

“Brithdir Isaf, built of pennant sandstone rubble, stood on a platform site cut into the down slope of the hillside descending south into the Nant Bargoed Rhymney (Darran).

The one and a half storeyed house was probably of a longhouse form originally, but the cowhouse had been totally rebuilt for domestic use.

The house was originally entered from the cowhouse cross passage? through a gable doorway with steps rising into the hall. The entry was at the side of a large fireplace with a plain chamfered timber bressammer over and having a stone-built bake-oven inside the west jamb under a winding stone stair; the stair, built with a slight projection on the west and having a small window in the wall, was open to the roof.

Originally the hall was lighted by a single east window, but later a second smaller window was added. The ceiling over the room was carried on plain chamfered beams with curved-fillet stops and square joists.

The hall was divided from two small inner rooms by a timber partition but this was removed; slots in the underside of the beam indicated the position of narrow upright posts (.075x.05m), and a doorway at either end of the partition which may have been covered by lathe-and-