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Cyfannedd-Fach Homestead is a medieval platform house located in Wales and protected by Cadw under the national monuments register reference ME101. The structure sits upon bedrock of Llanvirn Rocks, an undifferentiated sequence of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formed during the Whiterock period. This geological foundation would have provided a relatively stable base, though the mixed stone types common to this bedrock suggest variable drainage conditions across the site.
Platform houses were a widespread settlement form in medieval Wales, comprising a dwelling built upon a deliberately levelled or terraced platform cut into sloping ground. This constructional approach offered practical advantages: it improved drainage, created level internal space, and made efficient use of marginal upland terrain where agriculture would otherwise have been challenging. The platform technique also helped stabilize structures on steep slopes.
At Cyfannedd-Fach, the platform strategy would have been essential given the underlying geology's variable stability. Such homesteads typically housed single families engaged in mixed pastoral and arable farming, representing the dispersed settlement pattern characteristic of medieval rural Wales. The site's preservation has allowed Cadw to maintain it as evidence of domestic life and land-use practices in the medieval Welsh countryside.
Cyfannedd-Fach Homestead is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference ME101. View the official record →
Cyfannedd-Fach Homestead is a medieval platform house located in Wales and protected by Cadw under the national monuments register reference ME101.
Cyfannedd-Fach Homestead dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a platform house. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cyfannedd-Fach Homestead is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is ME101.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Allt Lwyd Cairn II (5 km), Allt Lwyd Cairn I (5.3 km), Allt Lwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex (5.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Cyfannedd-Fach Homestead's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Cyfannedd-Fach Homestead stands on Llanvirn Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Whiterock. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.