Bryndraenog

Bryndraenog stands south of the village of Beguildy very close to the Welsh/English border in eastern Powys. The area was part of the lordship of Maelienydd. The origins of the building are of the 15th century. Tree-ring dating of the timbers used in the houses shows that they were cut down in 1436. Cadw suggests the house was built for a reeve who would have been responsible to a Marcher lord for the administration of justice in the area. At the time of the house's construction, both it and its lord, Llywelyn Fychan ab Ieuan, were celebrated by the poet, Ieuan ap Hywel Swrdwal who described the house as "proud maiden of lime and timber". In the early 17th century, part of the house was…

Brydraenog was built to a traditional H-plan, with a central hall and two cross-wings. It was originally constructed entirely in timber, with lime infilling. The hall at the house's centre is "one of the grandest timber halls in Wales". Robert Scourfield and Richard Haslam, in their Powys volume in the Buildings of Wales series, note its remarkable state of preservation, despite later alterations to the building. The hall is surrounded on three sides by an open gallery which gives access to the first floor. There is a two-storey porch, the upper storey of which may once have held a small chapel. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales records the "remarkable…