Ardudwy is an area of

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the North West Wales, north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County B ...

in north-west

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

, lying between Tremadog Bay and the

Rhinogydd The Rhinogydd (a Welsh plural form, often anglicised as Rhinogs and also known by the alternative Welsh plural Rhinogau) are a range of mountains located east of Harlech in North Wales. The name ''Rhinogydd'' derives from the names of two of the ...

. Administratively, under the old

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

, it was first a division of the sub kingdom (

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

) of

Dunoding Dunoding was an early sub-kingdom within the Kingdom of Gwynedd in north-west Wales that existed between the 5th and 10th centuries. According to tradition, it was named after Dunod, a son of the founding father of Gwynedd - Cunedda Wledig - w ...

and later a

commote A commote (Welsh ''cwmwd'', sometimes spelt in older documents as ''cymwd'', plural ''cymydau'', less frequently ''cymydoedd'')'' Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wal ...

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

Barmouth Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the historic county of Merioneths ...

to Harlech was historically used as

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

. The name exists in the modern community and village of

Dyffryn Ardudwy Dyffryn Ardudwy () is a village, community and electoral ward in the Ardudwy area of Gwynedd, Wales consisting of several small, almost conjoined, villages including Coed Ystumgwern, Llanenddwyn (), Llanddwywe, Talybont and Dyffryn Ardudwy. ...

History

Ardudwy features prominently in

Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Mytholeg Cymru'') 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 the predominantly oral ...

. In the Second Branch of the ''

Mabinogi The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

,'' Bendigeidfran holds court at Harlech, 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 spelled 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 marriage, his death, h ...

is given Eifionydd and Ardudwy as his fief by Math fab Mathonwy. Lleu built his palace at

Mur y Castell Mur may refer to: Places: * Mur (river) (or Mura), a river in central Europe * Mur, Switzerland, a commune in Vaud and Avenches * Mur (Novi Pazar), a large village in Serbia * Mur, part of the village of Murzasichle, Poland * Mur, Iran (disambig ...

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 9th-century chieftain Collwyn ap Tango, the progenitor of the fifth of the Fifteen Noble Tribes of Gwynedd. He was Lord of Eifionydd, Ardudwy and part of Llŷn and is a maternal ancestor of the Anwyl of Tywyn Family. Ardudwy was a core part of the

above the

River Conwy , name_etymology = , image = Boats in River Conwy.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = Boats in the river estuary at Conwy , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , push ...

throughout the early

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

. After the conquest and subjugation of

in 1283, the cantref was merged with

Meirionydd Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a cantref, a district and, as Merionethshire, a county. Kingdom Meirionnydd (Meirion, with -''ydd'' as a Welsh suffix of land, literally ''Land adjoined to Me ...

to form the new county of

Merionethshire , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

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

, where it remains to this day.

References

Barmouth Dyffryn Ardudwy Ffestiniog Ganllwyd Harlech Llanbedr Llanelltyd Llanfair, Gwynedd Llanfrothen Maentwrog Penrhyndeudraeth Talsarnau Trawsfynydd Commotes of Gwynedd Commotes of Snowdonia {{Wales-hist-stub