The area around Maesmawr was occupied during Roman times. Due to its location near the banks of the River Severn, the Romans built a road through the area. A Welsh Long House was once located in the grounds. The hall has the date 1535 painted at the top of the gable over the porch, but this date is likely to be a fairly recent overpainting of the date which was previously 1717. While the date of construction of Maes Mawr is uncertain, on stylistic grounds it is likely to be either late 17th century or early 18th century. In the early 19th century it became a notable sporting estate for shooting game. In the 1870s it was known to have been owned by John Pryce Davies and was owned for many years by his family, and by the Davies sisters in the 1900s. In August 2008 the hall was purchased by John Garner and Nigel Humphryson.
Hotel
Today the hall is used as a hotel with 20 bedrooms and is often hired for wedding receptions, proms and social evenings. The original rooms from the 1535 building have the original beams and uneven floors. In the Victorian period a wing was added to the hall; those rooms are larger and brighter.
Haunting
It has been reported that the hall is haunted and was subject to an investigation by Most Haunted. An old Roman road passed through the grounds of the hall and people have reported seeing Roman legionnaires. One report was of a businessman staying at the manor who was previously a sceptic of ghosts and when staying there one night reported that when he looked out of the window he could see a road disappearing under the building with a Roman legion marching along. Mid Wales Paranormal investigated at the hall and reported that, “There were light orbs and anomalies at the hall, and while investigating in a room upstairs, there was movement and the floor actually moved.” Sightings of an Elizabethan housekeeper have been seen going through the wall in the panelled hallway and the ghost of a wicked man named Robin Drwg is said to haunt the woods on the grounds who assumes the form of a bull. A man and his dog and a servant are said to appear in the cellar and the Davies sisters who ran the hall in the 1900s have also been reported as being seen. Also reported is a ghost of a woman who appears to be climbing stairs although the staircase has been long demolished. Nigel Humphryson, the owner since 2008, has not reported having seen anything. However, he has confessed to hearing voices and banging which he could not account for.
Smith P, and Owen, C E. Traditional and Renaissance Elements in some late Stuart and early Georgian Half-Timbered Houses in Arwystli Montgomeryshire Collections LV-LVI. 1957-60, pp 101–124. Plan at Fig. 4;
Smith P, Houses of the Welsh Countryside 1975, p 230 and Maps 10, 19, 30, 33, and 39;
Scourfield R and Haslam R, Buildings of Wales: Powys; Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire, 2nd edition, Yale University Press pp 92–3.
