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. Llwyd was made an
esquire following Henry's decisive victory at the Battle of Bosworth. Around 1600, the house was owned by Richard ap John ap Hugh, a descendant of Llwyd. Hugh's son
Rowland Pugh was the Lord of Meirionedd, 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. 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. Another house was built at Mathafarn towards the end of the 17th century and was sold to
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn in 1752. In 1915, Edward Hughes, a county
alderman and
magistrate of
Montgomeryshire was in possession of Mathafarn. The house built in 1800 still stands in 2017. == Location ==