CPAT Regional Sites & Monuments Record

PRN 20218 - Diosg House
Listed Building 18129 (II )

Stone-walled, lobby entry house. Wing built in 1830 masks the original front door. Interior of older portion "traditional".

The following is from Cadw's Listed Buildings database

Farmhouse located on a platform site at the head of its farmyard, at the foot of the Newydd Ffynyddog, above the small township of Dol-fâch, and accessed by a farm road from the centre of Dol-fâch.

The C18 2-bay lobby-entry gable stack farmhouse was bought by the Rev. John and Mary Roberts of Chapel House, Dol-fƒch, where they took a tenancy with their family in 1806. Samuel Roberts, 'SR', who was to become one of the most important radical free thinkers and preachers in Wales of the C19, lived here from 1806 to 1857. He fought for the rights of oppressed tenants, campaigned against slavery, initiated the idea of a national single rate pre-paid post, and was poet and contributor to eisteddfodau, and editor of Y Cronicl. The youngest son, Robert Richard, 'Gryffydd Rhisiart' (1810-1883), who also became eminent in literary fields, was born at Diosg.

Late C18 building of stone with slate roof. Two storeys, main 2-bay range with a lean-to at the upper end, and a lean-to stable set at the lower gable end of the main range. A 2-bay wing was added to the front of the upper bay by Samuel Roberts in 1830, commemorated by a date stone built into the front wall. The main building has a boarded door and small pane iron framed windows (1 replaced). The added wing has 24 and 36-pane iron windows in timber frames, the openings having massive slate lintels. A slate plaque is now attached to the front wall by the door reads DYMA GARTREF SR / 1806-1857.

Lobby entry against the gable stack, with living room with spine beam and ogee stops. Inner parlour and small pantry at the lower end now amalgamated into a kitchen. The wing, improbably said to have been a wine room, has an inner room behind an axial stack.

Included as a good example of an C18 farmhouse with good quality C19 alterations, and particularly for its associations with with the nationally renowned Roberts family

Roberts S, Ffermwr Careful Cilhaul Uchaf; Roberts S, Diosg farm - a sketch of its history During the Tenancy of John Roberts and his Widow, 1854; Williams R, 'Montgomeryshire Worthies' Montgomeryshire Collections, XVII, 1884, p 239-240. [for Robert Roberts]; Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940, p 879; Rees Ben, 'Difficult Days at Diosg' Country Quest , Jan 1996, pp 42-3; RCAHM Wales files.

Sources:-
Cadw Listing database , 2000 , ,
NMR , 19?? , ,
OS record card , 1978 , ,

record created 31/12/90 , last updated 08/10/94
The above data are supplied by CPAT in partnership with its Local Authorities and the partners of END, © CPAT SMR partnership, 2003 (and in part © Crown, 2003)

CM - 15/11/03 ( 16:16:51 ) - HTML file produced from CPAT's Regional SMR
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, Curatorial Section, 7a Church Street, Welshpool, Powys SY21 7DL.
tel (01938) 553670 , fax (01938) 552179, email trust@cpat.org.uk , website www.cpat.org.uk