Maes Manor

The house, initially called Maesruddud, was built for Captain Edmund Williams, a local colliery owner and Sheriff of Monmouthshire between the early 1890s and around 1900. His architect was Edward Prioleau Warren, who studied under George Frederick Bodley. Warren worked on an earlier house which had stood since the 18th century.{{efn|There is disagreement as to which member of the family was responsible for the reconstruction of the house in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Cadw and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales both attribute the first phase to Edmund Williams.{{Coflein|num=414576|desc=Maes Manor Hotel|access-date=19 August 2023}} However, Phil Jayne, a landscape officer at Caerphilly County Borough Council, in an article for the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust's Spring 2009 Bulletin, notes that Edmund died in 1895 and suggests that both the 1900 and the 1907 developments were commissioned by his nephew, Edmund William Tom Llewelyn Brewer-Williams.}} In 1907 a major expansion was undertaken by Williams' heir, Edmund William Tom Llewelyn Brewer-Williams, who again engaged Warren to enlarge the house and employed Thomas Mawson to lay out an important garden.{{NHAW|num=26701|desc=Maes Manor Hotel|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}} Mawson's comment on the gardens, "a jewel stuck into a lump of lead", reflected the garden's situation within the industrial Valleys landscape from which the Williams' wealth derived.{{efn|The Williams family were originally local farmers whose estates in the 19th century were found to contain valuable deposits of coal. Their fortunes were further augmented through the marriage of Edmund Williams' daughter, Mary, to Thomas Llewellyn Brewer, heir to the Coalbrookvale ironworks.{{cite web|url=https://whgt.wales/documents/bulletin/bulletin54.pdf|first=Phil|last=Jayne|title=Maesruddud: "A Jewel Stuck into a Lump of Lead"|publisher=Welsh Historic Gardens Trust|date=Spring 2009|access-date=19 August 2023}}}}

The Williams family left Maes in the 1930s and it subsequently served as a hospital and then a children's home. It now operates as a hotel,{{cite web|url=https://maesmanor.co.uk/|title=Maes Manor Hotel|publisher=Maes Manor|access-date=19 August 2023}} having had multiple owners throughout the 21st century.{{Cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/business/commercial-property/husband-and-wife-management-team-acquire-maes-1897449|title=Husband-and-wife management team acquire Maes Manor in £1.75m deal|first=Sion|last=Barry|publisher=Wales Online|date=14 September 2010|access-date=19 August 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://caerphilly.observer/news/944942/blackwoods-maes-manor-hotel-bought-out-of-administration-for-520000/|title=Blackwood's Maes Manor Hotel bought out of administration for £520,000|first=Gareth|last=Hill|publisher=Caerphilly Observer|date=13 June 2014|access-date=19 August 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/12864918.blackwoods-maes-manor-hotel-sold-for-more-than-750000/|first=Caio|last=Iwan|title=Blackwood's Maes Manor Hotel sold for more than £750,000|publisher=South Wales Argus|date=1 April 2015|access-date=19 August 2023}}

Maes Manor is a Grade II listed building, and its gardens and grounds are listed, also at Grade II, on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.{{NHAW|uid=307|num=PGW(Gm)54(CAE)|desc=Maes Manor Hotel|class=HPG|access-date=19 August 2023}}

Mawson's garden is highly structural{{Cite web|url=https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/maes-manor-hotel|title=Maes Manor Hotel - Blackwood|publisher=Parks and Gardens (UK)|access-date=19 August 2023}} and contains a number of buildings to his designs. Many are themselves listed, all at Grade II, including: the North and South Lodges;{{NHAW|num=26708|desc=North Lodge at Maes Manor Hotel|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}}{{NHAW|num=26709|desc=South Lodge at Maes Manor Hotel|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}} the gates to the estate;{{NHAW|num=267071|desc=Gate piers with flanking doorways and walls at entrance to Maes Manor|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}} the kitchen garden;{{NHAW|num=26706|desc=Kitchen garden walls, pavilion and terrace at Maes Manor|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}} the Upper and Lower terraces;{{NHAW|num=26702|desc=Upper terrace revetment and steps in garden to the south of Maes Manor|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}}{{NHAW|num=26703|desc=Lower terrace revetment and gates in garden to the south of Maes Manor|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}} and the coach house.{{NHAW|num=26705|desc=Former Coach House at Maes Manor|grade=II|access-date=19 August 2023}}

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Category:Houses in Caerphilly

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Caerphilly County Borough

Category:Registered historic parks and gardens in Caerphilly County Borough

Category:Country houses in Wales

Category:Country house hotels