History

Gelli was a grange of Basingwerk Abbey, the lands granted by Edward I. The building is said to have contained a cell and a chapel, apparently for performing divine service to the Abbot. Remains of a medieval hall and cross-passage survive, along with a probable gallery and chamber (or chapel) at 1st floor level. The doorway and several pairs of arched lights belong to this phase. After the reformation, the building was converted to a farmhouse, and is illustrated in a publication of 1796. The central doorway and openings to the R are as now, but to the L an external staircase led to an upper storey doorway, next to which was a lateral stack followed by a small window. A 3-light segmental headed window at the E end was replaced in the 1950s by an arched window of Gothic character. The house had been divided into 2 dwellings by 1871.

Interior

The front room was the outer or service room of the sub-medieval house, to the R of the cross-passage (now in 1 Gelli Fawr). To the rear is a room of the C18-19, with a late C20 extension behind. The current entrance leads into the kitchen in the modern extension. There is also a half-glazed panelled door which leads into the front room. Inside this room is a blocked doorway offset to the L of the front with a Tudor-arched head and large stone jambs. The ceiling has 1 spine beam with narrow chamfer and pegs, which may have held a partition, and plain joists. The small window in the E end has splayed reveals. The S wall of the room contains a small stone fireplace, which previously had a stone head, now covered over. On the rear side of the fireplace, an opening was found in the wall, possibly of an early external window. There used to be a staircase in the front room, now replaced by one in the addition. The upper storey is open to the roof, and a corridor runs along the E side of the house, with bathroom and bedrooms off to the L. A large arched-brace truss is visible against the E gable end of the front range, and there are 3 pairs of purlins, those at the top replaced. The pointed E window has splayed reveals and a wooden lintel. To the L is a further arched-brace truss divided by a partition wall between 2 bedrooms. In the front bedroom, against the front wall, is a doorway with Tudor arched head (relating to the external doorway).

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* as an exceptionally fine house with medieval origins and a complex history, which retains sub-medieval character and detail.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17743525

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]