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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
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Kennixton
A large stone-built farmhouse constructed in three phases. The earliest, dating from 1610, was built as a gable-entry dwelling with a single room on the ground floor and a bedroom above. About 1680, a large cegin (kitchen) was added which was to serve as the main living space. Two new entrance doors were included, together with a timber staircase leading to a spacious sleeping area upstairs. Finally, about 1750, a back kitchen was added a right angles to the building. This also had a room above, which was probably used for storage.
The box-bed by the fire was a particular feature of Gower homes, as was the raised area for smoking meat above the fireplace, which accommodates a platform bed in the room above. The carved tester bed has been dressed in hangings made from exact reproductions of 17th-century vegetable-dyed dornix fabric. Much of the furniture is from Glamorgan, including the dresser in the kitchen and the furniture in the parlour, which is mostly 18th century.
The red colour of the walls was thought to protect the house against evil spirits, as did the berries of the rowan tree in the garden and the carved figures which can be seen just inside the front door.
The house was moved to the museum in 1952, though the farm buildings associated with it were not offered at the time. 50 years later, however, the barn and calves cotts were donated, so that they could take their rightful place alongside the farmhouse.
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