The farm and barns appear in the tithe map of 1840. They were occupied by Samuel Roberts and owned by John Burton of Minera Hall. John Burton most likely inherited Penymynydd as part of the estate of his father Robert Burton who died, aged 74, in February 1819. Robert Burton was a partner in Plas Mostyn coal mine, and was involved in the local leadmines. He was a wealthy man and owned land in Minera and Esclusham, he built Minera Hall around 1800. Penymynydd Farm (with 43.5 acres) was part of the Minera Hall Estate when the estate was put up for sale on 18th November 1918.

Esclusham Above tithe map (in brown) c1840

The farm fell just within the boundary of the parish called Esclusham Above (meaning above Offa’s dike). The land immediately to the North and across the mountain is not covered by a tithe map (possibly because it was common land). Minera parish tithe map starts about 1/4 mile further North, though in 1844 this area was incorporated into Minera parish.

Lead mining on the nearby City Lands (now called New Brighton) can be traced back to the land being leased for mining in 1732. The remains of the lead mining at New Brighton, which finally closed down in 1914, have now been made into a country park. The acquisition of the land by the Burton estate might have been in case the mineral reserves extended beneath the land.

The 1874 map shows much the same layout as the 1840 tithe map. The farm buildings are arranged in a square, with a couple of smaller buildings on the south-east corner of the plot. One of these survives and is in use for the goats.

So who built it, and was there anything before

The answer is we don’t know. There is a date stone on the barn from when it was rebuilt in the 1970s which also seems to show the date 1792. Robert Clarke might know more but I haven’t tracked him down yet. The date is plausible and fits in with Robert Burton being a wealthy man.

An older map of the Grosvenor estates just reaches as far as “The Barn”, and shows buildings on the site in 1740. The buildings are different in layout from the later maps and suggest a farm existed here before – possibly under a different name. The buildings are marked Edw Griffith, presumably the owner.

Much more intriguing is the discovery in 2023 of a hoard of Roman coins just 5 feet from the boundary of the house. That really does make you wonder about the history. Unfortunately a quick check of the remaining stonework of the now demolished house doesn’t suggest Roman quality.