A single storey lofted cottage, thought to be sixteenth century, with an agricultural building, once a mill of some kind, attached.
The cottage faces north. Its walls, limewashed or roughcast, are of uncoursed stone rubble on a boulder foundation, under a modern gabled roof. The original doorway is now a window. The existing windows are thought to be modern replacements in original openings.
There is a central fireplace dividing the interior into two rooms, both of which show a cruck pair. The present lofts are modern, but a window in the east gable is thought to have lit an original loft.
A single bay building is added on the east end, sharing a common roof. This has an arched opening to the front and an iron drive wheel over a leat at the rear.
Blaenglasgwmuchaf (Blaen-y-glasgwm) is an upland farmhouse of late medieval origin. The house is downslope sited, rubble walled, and retains several cruck trusses with lapped collars and tie-beams. The crucks defined a four-bay range, presumably a peasant hall-house with single-bayed hall. The inserted fireplace has created a house of lobby-entry type with the large fireplace heating the former hall with lofted inner rooms beyond. The former doorway into the cross-passage has been converted to a window. The C17th roof raising is probably contemporary with the inserted fireplace. Blaenglasgwm was part of the Gwydir estate in the early C17th. Plan and description in RCAHMW, Caernarvonshire Inventory, Volume I: East (1956), p.174, mon. 620 and fig. 169, plate 63. NPRN 26032. RFS/RCAHMW/July 2012.
Adnoddau
LawrlwythoMathFfynhonnellDisgrifiadapplication/pdfDHHS - Discovering the Historic Houses of Snowdonia CollectionBlaen-y-Glascwm, Penmachno. (a) Reconstructed hall-house plan; (b) ground-floor plan; (c) section A-A; (d) section B-B. Drawn by Charles Green as part of 'Discovering the Historic Houses of Snowdonia,' published by RCAHMW, 2014. Page 114, figure 3.29application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionOxford Dendrochronology Laboratory Report no 2012/24 relating to the tree-ring dating of Blaen Glascwm Uchaf, Penmachno, produced by Dr D. Miles and Dr M.C. Bridge, July 2012, commissioned by The North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionEAS Client report no 2012/05 relating to Blaen Glasgwm Uchaf, Penmachno, produced by I.P. Brooks of Engineering Archaeological Services, as part of the North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.application/pdfRCAHMW Dendrochronology Project CollectionDating Old Welsh Houses Project house history report relating to Blaen y Glascwm Uchaf, researched by Frances Richardson and Gill. Jones as part of the North West Wales Dendrochronology Project in partnership with RCAHMW.
