Tir agored uwchben Dyffryn Ardudwy - Open land above Dyffryn Ardudwy - geograph

Ardudwy () is an area of

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

in north-west

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, lying between Tremadog Bay and the Rhinogydd. Administratively, under the old

Kingdom of Gwynedd The Kingdom of Gwynedd (Medieval Latin: ; Middle Welsh: ) was a Wales in the Early Middle Ages, Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire Succession of states, successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon ...

, it was first a division of the sub kingdom (

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a Wales in the Early Middle Ages, medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divid ...

) of Dunoding and later a

commote A commote (, sometimes spelt in older documents as , plural , less frequently )'' Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix ("together" ...

in its own right. The fertile swathe of land stretching from

Barmouth Barmouth (formal ; colloquially ) is a seaside town and community in the county of Gwynedd, north-west Wales; it lies on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the historic county of Merionethshire, the Welsh form of t ...

Harlech Harlech () is a seaside resort and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, North Wales, and formerly in the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merionethshire. It lies on Tremadog Bay in the Snowdonia National Park. Before 1966, it ...

was historically used as

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

. The name exists in the modern community and village of Dyffryn Ardudwy.

History and mythology

Ardudwy features prominently in

Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (also commonly known as ''Y Chwedlau'', meaning "The Legends") consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of t ...

, '' the Triads of the Island of Britain'' heavily associates Ardudwy with the flooding of

Cantre'r Gwaelod , also known as or , is a legendary ancient sunken kingdom said to have occupied a tract of fertile land lying between Ramsey Island and Bardsey Island in what is now Cardigan Bay to the west of Wales. It has been described as a "Welsh Atla ...

, stating that survivors of the flooding moved into the area in the time of

Ambrosius Aurelianus Ambrosius Aurelianus (; Anglicised as Ambrose Aurelian and called Aurelius Ambrosius in the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and elsewhere) was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th c ...

, as well as surrounding areas that were previously uninhabited. In the Second Branch of the ''

Mabinogi The ''Mabinogion'' () is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created –1410, as well as a few earlier frag ...

,'' Bendigeidfran holds court at

, and his severed head returns there for seven years before it is taken on to Gwales. In the Fourth Branch,

Lleu Llaw Gyffes Lleu Llaw Gyffes (), sometimes incorrectly spelled as Llew Llaw Gyffes, is a hero of Welsh mythology. He appears most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, the tale of Math fab Mathonwy, which tells the tale of his birth, his marriag ...

is given Eifionydd and Ardudwy as his fief by Math fab Mathonwy. Lleu built his palace at " Mur y Castell" in Ardudwy. He reigned there before and after the usurpation of Gronw Pebr, whom he killed on the banks of the River Cynfael.''The Mabinogion (op. cit.):'
Math the son of Mathonwy
A holed stone in Ardudwy is still known as '' Llech Ronw'' (Gronw's Stone). Ardudwy is later associated with the ninth-century chieftain Collwyn ap Tango, the progenitor of the fifth of the Fifteen Noble Tribes of Gwynedd. He was Lord of Ardudwy and is a maternal ancestor of the Anwyl of Tywyn Family. Ardudwy was a core part of the

above the

River Conwy The River Conwy (; ) is a river in north Wales. From its source to its discharge in Conwy Bay it is long and drains an area of 678 square km. "Conwy" was formerly anglicised as "Conway." The name 'Conwy' derives from the old Welsh words ''c ...

throughout the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. After the conquest and subjugation of

in 1283, the cantref was merged with Meirionydd to form the new county of

Merionethshire Merionethshire, or Merioneth ( or '), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the North West Wales, north-west of Wales. Name 'Merioneth' is a ...

. This situation was retained until 1974, when Welsh Local Government was reorganised and it became part of the reformed

, where it remains .

References

{{coord, 52.803, -4.040, display=title, region:GB_scale:50000 Barmouth Dyffryn Ardudwy Ffestiniog Ganllwyd Harlech Llanbedr Llanelltyd Llanfair, Gwynedd Llanfrothen Maentwrog Penrhyndeudraeth Talsarnau Trawsfynydd Commotes of Gwynedd Commotes of Snowdonia