Medieval museum plan for old farm

A heritage trust is selling shares in a 600-year-old Powys farm to try to raise the £200,000 needed to restore and convert it into a medieval museum.

Plans are to stage open days, events and educational visits at 78-acre Bryn Mawr Farm in Llanerfyl, near Welshpool.

Money from the shares, which cost £50 each, will also be used to purchase a 21-year lease from its owners.

Stakes in the farm and its old longhouse entitle shareholders to help with the restoration work.
The group behind the project, Bryn Mawr Heritage Trust, proposes to farm the land using medieval methods, including using horses and cattle to tow carts.

It said it also plans sowing fields with medieval varieties of wheat from seeds gathered from the thatched roofs of old National Trust buildings.

The property was lived in until 1938, and project director Gary Ball said: "The farm's stone walls date back to about 1410 during the time of Owain Glyndwr, but we think there's been a farm here since about the 12th Century.

"The wooden crucks [roof frames] probably date back to that period, and there are three pairs which means the property was quite high status. "

A peasant's property usually had one pair of crucks.

"We've given ourselves 12 months to raise the money we need and so far we have more than 30 shareholders. We are confident we can do it," he said.

The money will also be used to convert a redundant building into an education room for local schools, with a kitchen and toilets.

Meanwhile, there are plans to convert a hay loft into a bunkhouse for walkers on Glyndwr's Way, a nearby national trail.

From: BBC NEWS