The earliest record of the house is from
the 16" Century, but evidence suggests that a
house may have existed here earlier. The earliest mention of the
manor of Llangasty
Talyllyn puts it in the time of the Norman conquest of Wales.
Bernard de Neutmarche,
the Norman warlord bequeathed the manor to Reginald Walbeoffe in
the late 11"‘
Century There is a Norman motte (an
earth-mound castle) in a nearby field. ln 17"
century court records. the house is described as the Croft Y
Yarll (“Croft of the Earl") which is also a sign that the
history of the site dates to Norman times.In the 1580's Ty Mawr,
then called Talyllyn House, was owned by Hugh Powell, Lord
of the manor of Llangasty Talyllyn. At this time Powell also
resided at the Kings
House, next to Salisbury Cathedral where he was buried. ln 1584,
Powell was involved
in a dispute over fishing rights on the lake He had illicitly
built weirs which undercut eels
traps owned by the proprietor of the fishing rights of this side
of the lake. who at the time
was a woman called Blanche Parry, Lady in Waiting to Queen
Elizabeth l. A
map was
drawn up in 1584 (see below) as part of the court inquiry over
the dispute, which are the
first documents relating explicitly to the
house The witnesses interviewed included one
gentleman who remembers being a servant in the house under Hugh
Powells father
about 50 years before. This suggests that the house had been
there in 1534.The house passed from the Powells to the
Vtfllliams’ through marriage in 1623.The
house was an important building on the lake, home to the Lord of
the manor of Llangasty
Talyllyn. lt was the location of court hearings for the parish,
where local disputes were
heard and settled. Court rolls survive from courts of Hugh
Powell in the 1580s, and later
under Edward Williams in the mid 17"“ Century.
Joshua Parry became lord of the manor
through his marriage to Rachel Williams,
Edward \M|liams' sister. He chaired the courts at Llangasty
Talyllyn, his last was in
1714. He was the great-great-grand nephew of Blanche Parry. A
wine-bottle seal with
his name on it was unearthed during archaeological
investigations on the site during the
late 1990s. He died in 1729.
The Davies family were from Cwrt Y Gollen. They had amassed a
considerable estate
by the time Richard Davies became proprietor of Talyllyn House,
and upon its sale the
estate covered 2000+ acres. According to a sale notice from
1794, and adverts in the
Hereford Times from 1792, the house was undergoing some building
work, in the form
of an extension.
The De Crespigny family were active
socialites among upper-class circles. Phflip
purchased the house as part of a larger estate including the
manors of Llangasg,
Talyllyn and Blaenllynfi in 1794. He and his son Charles were
occasionally High Sh of Brecon between 1794-1812. The existing
buildings at Talyllyn House were probabty
built, or at least modified or finalised, during de Crespigny’s
ownership.
From 1800 Philip de Crespigny started to
lease the building to taming tenants such
as William Perrott (from 1810), and this marked its long history
as a farm house. The
diminished importance of the house was probably due to it now
being part of a much
larger collection of estates accumulated by de Crespigny and
Davies.
The house was sold in 1838 to James
Holford, head of the Bucktand Emato. At this
point Talyllyn House becomes known as Ty Mawr or “Great House”.
it continued to be
leased as a farm house to the Perrott family. Census records
from 1861 show that by
this point the tenancy had passed on to William Jones and his
family. Maps showing the house were produced in 1840 and 1887.
The first mfiéfiiorwng
church tithe schedules, shows a very different structural plan
to that of buildings. The second, an Ordnance Survey map, show
the structures to be
in
plan to as they stand today. lt seems that the old “Manor House‘
was
before
1887.
The Jones family, who had leased the house
and land torfaiiming since ‘IM1,the house in 1920 after the sale
of the Buckland
and
it unfit 1* lt was subsequently purchased by the Brecon
Beacons Nattonat Park M a bid lb qrnl
possibie development which would compromise the areas herbage md
beauty.
The present owners bought the house in 1993
as a family home and
restoration project. Since
1995 they have developed a successful business making
lime-based plasters
and mortars. Their own keenness to stress the heritage
and
history of the site has led to the initiation of an
archaeological excavation on the site of the old manor house, and an associated educational project
offering local school groups the opportunity to experience a dig
first-hand. The family stll
live on the site and the production facility and training centre
for the business are situated on
site which also has a campsite, kitchen garden shop and cafe.
