Photography by John Ball - 10 August 2000 (with a Sony Mavica MVC-FD91 digital camera)

In May 2000 I received an e-mail from a client in the Cayman Islands asking me to take some digital photographs of Swfrydd-fach Farm, near Crumlin, associated with her Monmouthshire ancestors. My brief was to photograph the farmhouse itself, some of the farmland and whatever views of the landscape her ancestors might have enjoyed from these places. The client said she would still like pictures of the site, even if the farm was in ruins or completely gone, "... just to get the emanations!".
I visited the old farm with my digital camera and two friends, early in August 2000. This Images of Wales feature is a photographic record of our visit.

Image 1:

The approach track to Swffrydd-fach Farm.

Image 2:

The farmhouse viewed from the entrance to a field, to the south of the farm. The field was being used as grazing for four cows.

Image 3:

To the right is an old stone barn. Ahead is the farmhouse.

Image 4:

The barn, with its roof clad with stone tiles.

Image 5:

The farmhouse and out-buildings.

The occupant [in 2000] told us she was born in the farmhouse about 80 years ago. She said the farmhouse dates back to Elizabethan times (16th century). On the day we visited, a neighbour was helping to paint the outside of the house and its outbuildings.

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