NEUADD FAWR, Dirty Window, Cilycwm, Carmarthenshire 1996

Disgrifiad

Notes on NEUADD FAWR, Cilycwm, Carmarthenshire 1996

A pack of sheep dogs barked around my car as I pulled into the farmyard that stands beside the decrepit walls of Neuadd Fawr, built on an existing site by a William Davys in the late 18th century.

The dogs continued to bark at my heels as I knocked on the farmhouse door and I very nearly ran back to my car. I was pleased I didn’t turn and drive home as I believe I was lucky that day. The dogs calmed and were friendly and the owner, although it was still very early, was happy for me to spend a few hours exploring the house and its grounds.

A heavy morning dew soaked my feet and a bleak mist hung around the grounds, occasionally revealing trees, the walls of outbuildings and a walled garden with ivy covering every inch of the stone. The interior was too dangerous to enter. I always take a hard helmet with me but it felt that at any moment the entire house would tumble down around me.

It seemed well beyond repair then. It’s walls, stone and mortar were damp and sodden and the roof was fruitlessly attempting to shelter the inside from any further deterioration of the rot therein.

Some 7 years later I drove by again. I parked the car, stood on tiptoe, peering over the hedgerow, and across the field. Neuadd Fawr still stood, resilient, with the wind ever blowing through its rooms. I felt somehow nostalgic and relieved. I didn’t like the thought that someone may purchase, demolish, or even rebuild, such a house. What chance to reclaim its history and character? Then again perhaps these days nothing is beyond repair and I’ve heard it is, once again, on the market. The estate contains (now restored) lodge houses, a walled garden and a marvellous twin door stable block.


Neuadd Fawr 1996


NEUADD FAWR. Cilycwm. Sir Gaerfvrddin 1996 & 2010

Cyfarthai cnud o gwn o gwmpas fy nghar wrth i mi gyrraedd y buarth a saif wrth ymyl muriau musgrell Neuadd Fawr a adeiladwyd ar y safle presennol ar ddiwedd y ddeunawfed ganrif gan William Davys.

Parhaodd y cwn i gyfarth o gwmpas fy sodlau wrth i mi guro ar ddrws y ffermdy a bu bron i mi redeg yn ol i'm car. Roeddwn i'n falch na wnes i adael a gyrru adref oherwydd rwyf o'r farn fy mod i wedi bod yn ffodus iawn y diwrnod hwnnw. Tawelodd y cwn, a oedd yn gyfeillgar ac er ei bod hi'n fore iawn, caniataodd y perchennog i mi dreulio rhai oriau yn archwilio'r ty a'r gerddi.

Gwlychwyd fy nhraed gan Iwydrew trwm y bore ac hongianai tarth diflas o gwmpas y gerddi gan weithiau amlygu coed, muriau'r tai allan a gardd furiog oedd a iorwg yn gorchuddio pob modfedd o'r cenrig.

Mae'r ystad yn cynnwys porthordai (sy'n adfeilion), gardd furiog a bloc o stablau sydd a drysau dwbl arbennig.

• https://www.welshruins.co.uk/neuadd-fawr-dirty-window-cilycwm.html (link opens in new window)