Our Story
The Hotel
As the Maesllwch Arms it had fallen from grace after a succession of ownerships and the building became an eye sore for the village and spent some time on the property market as a run down, outdated business in need of a lot of attention.
The Village
Situated just outside the Brecon Beacons National Park and north of the Black Mountains, Glasbury-on-Wye sits on the beautiful River Wye. The village was an important crossing point on the river connecting the historic counties of Brecknock and Radnorshire. Nestling in the hillside half a mile to the north of Glasbury on Wye is the imposing Maeswllch Castle. The castle and estate was owned by various families until Walter Wilkins commissioned architect William Lugar to propose a grand design that would maximise the view over the River Wye.
Building continued to the 1850’s During world war two the castle was used as a canadian hospital and then in 1942 by the land army
The name Maesllwch translates from the Welsh meaning ‘Field by the pool’ arising from the fact that Glasbury’s section of the River Wye is one of several pools along its entire stretch.
The current owners purchased the property in 2011 with the vision of restoring and modernising it and bringing it back to its former glory The main part of the building became Grade 2 listed in 1996 and the rebuild project was sympathetic to maintaining the historic element whilst transforming the Hotel into the bright place is it today. The rebuild progressed over 4 years and involved lots of hard work, decision making and cursing but the local community could see the transformation and appreciated that the once sorry Maesllwch Arms would flourish as Foyles of Glasbury
Today the Hotel has eleven individually designed bedrooms across the second and third floors, a spacious restaurant including a conservatory area, an impressive and welcoming bar and a private dining area.
Things of Interest
Opening in 1816 a tramway running through Glasbury connected Hay on Wye with the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal. Horse drawn trams carried coal, limestone and agricultural produce. Stations along the tramway were known as wharves and traces of stabling for the draught horses are still in evidence today.
The tramway was replaced by a railway opened by the Hay and Brecon Railway which opened in 1864 and was closed under the Beeching regime in 1962. train at glasbury station 1891
