On the north side – the original front – the massive wall-plate is supported by brackets springing from pilasters carved on the studs.

[2] The township of Cefnyberen was part of the Monastic Grange of Gwernago in Kerry that was owned by the Cistercian Abbey of Cwm Hir in Radnorshire.

Until the Abbey was dissolved in 1536–7 it seems that the township formed part of a forested area stretching northwards to Cefn y Coed in Llandyssil.

He was Keeper of the Jewels to Henry VIII and was a close associate to Thomas Cromwell in the dissolution of the Monasteries and the sequestration of their property, becoming Treasurer of the Court of Augmentations.

Cefnyberen is not included in the sale and it appears to have been sold earlier to a John ap R(ees), who was paying in 1534–35 a rent of £8 8s, and who may have been the abbot's bailiff at Gwernago.

He died in 1579, and his will and detailed probate inventory of his possessions in the house are now in the National Library of Wales[9]- Great Cefnyberen then passed to their son Maurice.