Historical background
This area includes the site of a medieval township, and was
latterly part of the Wynnstay estate. The smallholdings of
Ty Ucha'r Ffordd, Pentre Uchaf, Pentre Isaf, Bryn y Pistyll,
Ty'n y Gerddi, Bryneithin and Hafod Oleu were all in existence
by the 1740s. A woollen mill was active by 1730, providing
clothes for the Drws y Coed miners. In 1803 the estate was
sold to the partnership working the Cilgwyn and Cefn Du Slate
Quarries. In 1819 the Company sold a quarter of the estate
to John Evans, and the remainder in 1825. It was again disposed
of (by auction) in 1845, and was sold to the occupier.
Key historic landscape characteristics
Relict and industrial archaeology, field pattern
The area is quite distinctive, lying below open mountainside
and above the river floodplain. It contains a number of disparate
elements, which together make for an interesting (and potentially
informative) historic area. These elements include the place-name
element of a medieval township (one of the most inland of such
in this area), several deserted rural settlements, several
farmhouses, a small chapel, the remains of a slate quarry (which
includes an incline) and more recent settlement. It is apparent
that many of the farmhouses, although substantially built,
have field names rather than names which indicate a complete
holding, for instance, Gwastadfaes and Ty'n y Wern. There is
also a large caravan park here.
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Landscape Character Map
