Mathafarn
History
The earliest reference to Mathafarn is in 1485. Henry Tudor was travelling through Wales to meet Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, when he stopped at Mathafarn Hall, near Machynlleth and consulted with the poet Dafydd Llwyd (c1420 to c1500) who lived at the hall.{{cite journal |title=A Welsh Poem of 1485 on Richard III |first=Andrew |last=Breeze |volume=18 |date=2008 |journal=The Ricardian |url=http://www.richardiii.net/downloads/Ricardian/2008_vol18_breeze_welsh_poem.pdf}} Llwyd was made an esquire following Henry's decisive victory at the Battle of Bosworth.{{Dictionary of Welsh Biography |title=DAFYDD LLWYD ap LLYWELYN ap GRUFFUDD |id=s-DAFY-APL-1420}}
Around 1600, the house was owned by Richard ap John ap Hugh, a descendant of Llwyd.{{Dictionary of Welsh Biography |id=s-PUGH-MAT-1480 |title=PUGH family, of Mathafarn, Mont.}} Hugh's son Rowland Pugh was the Lord of Meirionedd,{{cite book |title=Archaeologia Cambrensis |last=Skinner |first=John |publisher=Cambrian Archaeological Association |date=1878}} and in 1624, was elected as the MP for Cardigan. In 1625, he was re-elected to the seat, and appointed as High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030498939#page/n49/mode/2up |first=W R |last=Williams |title=The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales|year=1895 }} In 1628 he built a new house at Mathafarn. Pugh supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War. On 2 November 1644, Sir Thomas Myddleton of the Parliamentarian army was marching through the Dyfi valley when he was ambushed by a force organised by Pugh. In retaliation for the attack, Myddleton burned down Mathafarn on 29 November 1644. Rowland Pugh died at Christmas 1644; his son John Pugh was made Lord of Cyfeiliog at the Restoration in recognition of his father's support of the Monarchy.{{cite book |title=Caeheulon and the Parish of Penegoes |first=Wendy |last=Morgan |publisher=Coch-y-Bonddu Books |location=Machynlleth |date=2003 |isbn=9780954211769 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zi7V0e-7yZ4C&q=mathafarn+-eithaf&pg=PA11}}
Another house was built at Mathafarn towards the end of the 17th century and was sold to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn in 1752. Wynn's son Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet built a new house at Mathafarn around 1800.
By 1859, Williams-Wynn had moved out of Mathafarn and had leased the house to William Owen.{{cite news |title=Machynlleth Agricultural Society |date=15 October 1859 |publisher=The North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality |url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4465341/4465347/54/}}
In 1915, Edward Hughes, a county alderman and magistrate of Montgomeryshire was in possession of Mathafarn.{{cite news |publisher=The North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality |title=New Montgomeryshire Magistrates |url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4243114/4243116/14/mathafarn |date=27 August 1915}} The house built in 1800 still stands in 2017.{{Coflein|desc=Mathafarn |num=29590 |date=2009}}
Location
Mathafarn is located half a mile north-west of Cemmaes Road and a similar distance east of Llanwrin. It stands at the confluence of the Afon Ceirig and the Afon Dyfi.{{cite journal |url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1264487/1272050/60#?xywh=261%2C-144%2C3756%2C2254 |title=A History and Conspectus of Montgomeryshire Water Corn Mills |page=55 |journal=The Montgomeryshire Collections: Relating to Montgomeryshire and Its Borders |volume=87 |date=1999 |publisher=Powys-land Club |location=Welshpool}}
References
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