Mechain

Mechain was a medieval cantref in the

Kingdom of Powys The Kingdom of Powys ( cy, Teyrnas Powys; la, Regnum Poysiae) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern t ...

. This cantref has also been referred to as Y Fyrnwy (''Vyrnwy''). Mechain may owe its name to the River Cain which flows through it on its way to join the

River Vyrnwy The River Vyrnwy ( cy, Afon Efyrnwy, ) is a river which flows through northern Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England. The name derives from Severn, the river of which it is a tributary. Course The river used to be sourced from the many rivers ...

; 'Me' or 'Mach' (c.f. Machynlleth, Mathrafal, etc., and in modern Welsh, field is ''maes'') may signify meadows or plain, in which case Mechain would mean "Meadows of the Cain". It corresponds to the later

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

Llanfyllin Llanfyllin ( – ) is a market town, community and electoral ward in a sparsely populated area in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. Llanfyllin's community population in 2011 was 1,532, of whom 34.1% could speak Welsh. Llanfyllin means ''church or ...

. Mechain lay almost in the centre of the kingdom, bordering with the cantref of Caereinion to the south, the two commotes of the cantref of Mochnant to the north, and the commotes of Deuddwr and Ystrad Marchell in the cantref of

Ystlyg Ystlyg ( en, possibly curve or open country) was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys. It lay at the east of the kingdom on the border with England. It consisted of the commotes (''cymydau'') of Deuddwr in the north, Ystrad Marchell in the ...

to the east. It consisted of the

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 Wales ...

s (''cymydau'') of Mechain Uwch Coed (''Mechain above the wood'') and Mechain Is Coed (''Mechain below the wood'') separated by the large wood or forest which stretched across the cantref around Bwlch-y-cibau. The

caput Latin words and phrases {{Short pages monitor