Cwmbiga Farm Penfforddlas Powys
High quality,
eco friendly, accommodation on a farm set in its own beautiful valley
in Mid-Wales.
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We have kindly been given these old photos of Cwmbiga by a neighbour, Jerry Hardman-Jones.
Prince Gwenwyhwyn, the last major ruler of south Wales
before the completion of the Norman Conquest, gave Cwmbiga Farm to Abbey Cwm Hir
in the early 13th Century. The Farm formed part of the Abbey's
estate for over 300 years until the dissolution of the monasteries.
The land then passed into the hands of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
The Earl was Chancellor of Oxford University and before his death in 1588, he decided to make a bequest to University College. That bequest was a clutch of farms and estates in Montgomeryshire, including Cwmbiga. The College kept the estates for over 300 years until 1920, when it took the decision to sell them and Cwmbiga (then 1300 acres) was sold to a Mr Maurice Jones, pictured on the right of the photograph below.
The period of private ownership was short-lived as the Farm passed
to the Forestry Commission in 1939 at which time most of the land, except the 60 acres or so immediately
around the farmhouse, was planted with trees to become part
of the Hafren Forest. The Commission sold the farmhouse and surrounding land to Mr Ieuan Rees in 1974. Mr Rees was associated with the farm for more than 60 years: first as a shepherd for Mr Jones, then tenant and, ultimately, owner. Mr Rees farmed the land until his retirement in 2005 and still lives locally.
We are very pleased and proud to be the eighth custodians of Cwmbiga in 800 years.