Powys Digital History Project

Hay and the Wye valley
Maesllwch Castle

by Anna Page
  The landowners of Breconshire and Radnorshire had tremendous power and influence over the lives of ordinary people. The owners of Maesllwch Castle, Glasbury were to figure in the public life of both counties over four centuries
Lithograph
of Maesllwch
Castle by
J.M. Ince		 engraving of Maesllwch
  Origins of the name
The current spelling of the name is Maesllwch, which translates from the Welsh as "field by the pool" (probably one of the several pools in the river Wye). Maesllwch was an ancient manor, and was variously spelled over the centuries as English speaking clerks struggled with Welsh names in an age when there was no standardised spelling: 1584 - Maisloughe or Maislowghe; c1700 - Mas Llwch; c1817 - Maeslough House.
In the census records, the spelling varied, though by this time it is always "Castle" no longer "House", because of the considerable works being carried out on it at various times after the 1830s. In the censuses from 1841 to 1881 it is spelt "Maeslough", and in the 1851 and 1891 censuses the Castle is spelt "Maesllwch".

Glasbury area
map from about
1836

Powys
County Archives

1" map of Glasbury 
  The extract from a one inch map of around 1836 reproduced above shows Maesllwch Castle and its park dominating the village. 
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