Monument Type(s):

• FARMHOUSE (14th century to Late 18th century - 1300 AD to 1799 AD)
• CRUCK HOUSE (15th century - 1400 AD to 1499 AD)

Summary

A 14th/15th century farmhouse, probably built for the bishops of St Asaph in the early to mid 15th century. Extensively remodelled in the late 18th century, which is protected by Grade II Listing.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA5670 - 1995 Building Recording at Erw'r Esgob by RCHME

Description

Farmhouse. C14 or C15, remodelled late C18 with later additions and alterations. Cruck frame with front and back walls and right gable end rebuilt in painted and rendered brick; graded slate roof. Original plan apparently an open hall house of 3 framed bays later converted to 3-unit baffle type and eaves raised in late C18. 2 storeys with dentilled eaves cornice. Late C19 and C20 casements, 2 to left and one to right of entrance, those to first floor directly below eaves. C20 nail-studded plank door under contemporary open gabled porch; prominent C19 red brick axial ridge stack directly above. Pigeon nesting holes and ledges to right gable end. Lower C19 dairy to left gable end incorporates part of an earlier brick outbuilding. Interior: inspection not possible at time of resurvey (April 1986) but likely to be of interest. Alcock (1981) p144 <1>

Er’w’r Esgob is a timber framed hall house of cruck construction, probably built for the bishops of St Asaph in the early 15th century. It consists of four bays with a central two-bay open hall, a long east end bay and a shorter west end bay. The smoke blackened open cruck truss in the hall is of arch-braced collar form and has V struts and a cusped decoration above the collar. The remaining cruck pairs exhibit a variety of forms. In the early 17th century the building was extensively altered by the insertion of a large stone stack and an upper floor. In this period the ground floor accommodation consisted of a central housebody with a large parlour to the east and two rooms to the west, probably a parlour and a service room. In the early to mid 18th century a narrower single-bay brick addition was constructed at the west en, probably on the site of an earlier structure. This provided a small parlour raised above a cellar, and was accompanied by the insertion of a stair in part of the westernmost cruck bay. The cruck building was encased in brick probably in the late 18th century, by which time the parlour at the east end was functioning as a kitchen; the present stair rising from the kitchen was inserted at the same time along with a fireplace heating the room above. Farm buildings adjoining the house include a barn (probably of 17th century origin) incorporating two re-used pairs of crucks, and a late 19th century stable, cart shed and granary. <3>

Name means Bishop's Meadow and refers to tenurial history. <4>

Account in <3> published in 1996. <6>

Photographs held by Historic England, and taken as recently as 1995, reveal a cellar at its west end complete with late 19th century or early 20th century equipment for making cheese atop a rough earth floor, with low beamed ceiling above – a quintessentially Welsh vernacular scene. <7>

Esgob is the local name. This is basically a cruck-built hall house of 4 bays with later additions and alterations. Probably of mid-C15 date, it received an inserted stack in C17, creating a lobby-entry. Noteworthy is the central truss of the hall which has an arched-braced collar-beam above which is lavish cusping forming a quatrefoil design flanked by two trefoils. The house is thought to have been the property of the bishops of St Asaph. <8>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.