10 Cottages In Wales So Old They Were Standing Before the Tudors

There are houses in Wales where families still live beneath beams cut down more than six centuries ago—timbers raised during rebellions, Tudor power struggles, and centuries before Wales and England were governed under the same laws. This documentary explores ten remarkable places across Wales where medieval and early-modern buildings remain part of everyday life. These are not abandoned ruins or carefully reconstructed replicas. Many still function as private homes, flats, shops, farmhouses, and working buildings, with their original timber frames quietly supporting modern life. From the streets of Presteigne and Montgomery, where medieval structures hide behind later brick façades, to Penarth Fawr, where a private home shares a wall with a protected ancient monument, these buildings reveal how Welsh history survived through continued use rather than deliberate preservation. What This Video Documents: MEDIEVAL HOMES STILL IN USE Farmhouses, townhouses, flats, and mixed-use buildings where people continue living within structures first raised hundreds of years ago. TIMBERS DATED TO EXACT YEARS Discover how dendrochronology allows researchers to identify when individual trees were felled—including a surviving roof timber cut during the summer of 1402. HISTORY HIDDEN BEHIND MODERN FAÇADES In towns such as Montgomery and Presteigne, Georgian brickwork, Victorian shopfronts, and painted walls conceal much older medieval frames underneath. WALES’S OLDEST DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE Explore historic buildings across Hafod Y Garreg, Machynlleth, Beaumaris, Ruthin, Cowbridge, Penarth Fawr, and Conwy—some connected to Owain Glyndŵr’s rebellion, Tudor history, and the English Civil War. WHY THESE BUILDINGS SURVIVED Their survival was not always the result of heritage protection. For generations, Welsh families repaired, extended, re-roofed, and adapted the homes they already possessed because rebuilding was rarely the cheaper option. At the centre of the story is Hafod Y Garreg near Erwood, where a curved oak cruck-truss has been dated to the summer of 1402. More than 620 years later, it remains part of a working farmhouse—making it the earliest precisely dated domestic building yet identified in Wales. Which of these ancient Welsh homes would you most want to live inside? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe for more documentaries about Britain’s overlooked historic places.