£121,000 grant secured to safeguard historic farmhouse

A major conservation project to safeguard one of Wales’s most historic farmhouses has received a funding boost.

The Strata Florida Trust has been awarded more than £120,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to carry out urgent repair work at Mynachlog Fawr, a Grade II* listed farmhouse located beside the ruins of Strata Florida Abbey near Pontrhydfendigaid, Ceredigion.

The £122,151 grant will fund interim repairs to the 16th-century building, including rebuilding part of the rear wall and installing internal propping to stabilise the structure.

Community consultation

Conservation work on the house’s contents and a community consultation on its future use will also form part of the project.

Additional contributions towards the work include £5,000 from the King’s Foundation, £1,900 from the Sacred Landscape of Medieval Monasteries Research Project, and £1,118 raised through a community crowdfunding campaign.

Originally constructed using stone from the abbey’s refectory, Mynachlog Fawr was first built as a gentry house in the 1500s before being transformed into a mansion in the late 17th century. It remains one of the most significant surviving farmhouses in Wales.

Alongside structural repairs, the project will see the removal and cataloguing of the farmhouse’s remaining contents.

Among the items earmarked for specialist conservation is the painting Choice of Youth, a striking depiction of the devil that once hung in the property.

Welsh heritage hub

The Trust, which has owned Mynachlog Fawr since 2016, has already restored three nearby farm buildings as part of its long-term vision to create the Strata Florida Centre – a hub for Welsh heritage, history, and culture.

Mick Taylor, chair of the Strata Florida Trust, said: “The trust is delighted to have received such a generous and timely grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund which will enable us to further safeguard Mynachlog Fawr farmhouse and continue the momentum of our overall restoration programme,” he said.

“We look forward to completing the interim repair works on the farmhouse and to engaging with the local community and beyond about its future use as a key part of the Strata Florida Centre.”

Repair works are due to begin in November, with the consultation commencing at the same time.