It is believed that there has been an Inn on the present site for at least five hundred years. Painscastle boasted five Inns during the three hundred years of the Welsh Drovers with “Halfpenny Field”, (half one old penny per 20 beasts per night - 1/2d pr score) directly opposite the present car park.

The remains of “Pains Castle” (named after its builder Pain fitz John) stand a few hundred yards from the inn and during the medieval period the fortress was of immense importance in this unsettled part of the “Welsh Marches”. The decline of the Drovers and the advent of the railways allowed Painscastle and many similar villages on the Drovers' routes to slip back to how they once were.

The inn boasts a view over some spectacular countryside that must be seen to be believed.

Note that there is ample parking.