is a coastal and mountainous region of

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 ...

. It has been a kingdom, a , a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

and, as

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 ...

, a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. It is currently a

committee area Many large local government councils in the United Kingdom have a system of area committees or area boards, which involve local people and organisations in decisions affecting council spending within their area. They cover a geographical are ...

within the county

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 ...

Kingdom

(Meirion, with as a Welsh suffix of land, literally 'Land adjoined to Meirion') was a sub-kingdom of

, founded according to legend by Meirion (derived from the Latin name ), a grandson of

Cunedda Cunedda ap Edern, also called Cunedda ''Wledig'' (reigned – c. 460), was an important early Welsh people, Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd, one of the very oldest of Western Europe. Nam ...

, a warrior-prince who brought his family to Wales from the (the 'Old North', northern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and southern

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

today), probably in the early 5th century. His dynasty seems to have ruled there for the next four hundred years. The kingdom lay between the

River Mawddach is a river in Gwynedd, Wales, which has its source in a wide area north of Dduallt in Snowdonia. It is 28 miles (45 km) in length, and is much branched; many of the significant tributaries are of a similar size to the main river. The c ...

and the

River Dovey The River Dyfi (; ), also known as the River Dovey ( ), is an approximately long river in Wales. Its large estuary forms the boundary between the counties of Gwynedd and Ceredigion, and its lower reaches have historically been considered the b ...

, spreading in a north-easterly direction.

Cantref

The ancient name of the was (or 'the of the

Ordovices The Ordovīcēs (Common Brittonic: *''Ordowīces'') were one of the Celtic tribes living in Great Britain before the Roman invasion. Their tribal lands were located in present-day North Wales and England, between the Silures to the south and the ...

'). The familiar name coming from Meirion's kingdom. The of held the presumed boundaries of the previous kingdom but now as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

of the

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 ...

where it continued to enjoy long spells of relative independence. It was divided into the

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" ...

s of (administered from at ) and (possibly centred on where there is a mound). The was effectively abolished in 1284 following the

Statute of Rhuddlan The Statute of Rhuddlan (), also known as the Statutes of Wales ( or ''Valliae'') or as the Statute of Wales ( or ''Valliae''), was a royal ordinance by Edward I of England, which gave the constitutional basis for the government of the Principal ...

with the area being reorganised with the addition of some neighbouring to form the county of

County

Wales Historic Counties map Merionethshire

The area of Meirionnydd was enlarged under the Statute of to become a

, gaining the old of and (shown as

Dunoding Dunoding was an early sub-kingdom within the Kingdom of Gwynedd in north-west Wales which 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 � ...

in the map of medieval cantrefi). The name for the county was

anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

to the English phonetic equivalent of ''Merioneth'', sometimes appearing with the suffix ''-shire'' as ''Merionethshire''. Merioneth became an

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until 1973 in Northern Ireland, 2002 in the Republic of Ireland. They are now abolished, although most Northern ...

with an elected county council in 1889 under the

Local Government Act 1888 The Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect ...

. In 1974 the administrative county was abolished with most of the area merging with

Caernarfonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...

and

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

to create a new county of

District

The 1974 reforms established a two-tier system, with upper-tier county councils and lower-tier district councils. The county of Gwynedd was divided into five

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, one of which was called , reverting to the Welsh spelling of the name ''Merioneth''. The district of covered almost the same area as the pre-1974 county of Merioneth, excluding only the Rural District, which went to the district of

Clwyd Clwyd ( , ) is a preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English cerem ...

. The Meirionnydd district replaced eight former districts: *

Bala Bala may refer to: Films * ''Bala'' (1976 film), an English-language dance documentary * ''Bala'' (2002 film), a Tamil-language action film * ''Bala'' (2019 film), a Hindi-language black comedy Life forms *Bala shark (''Balantiocheilos melano ...

Urban District An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

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 ...

Urban District * Deudraeth Rural District *

Dolgellau Rural District Dolgellau (; ) is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire until the county of Gwynedd was crea ...

Dolgellau Dolgellau (; ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merion ...

Urban District *

Ffestiniog Ffestiniog (; ) is a community in Gwynedd, Wales, containing several villages, in particular the settlements of Llan Ffestiniog and Blaenau Ffestiniog. It has a population of 4,875. History Ffestiniog was a parish in Cantref Ardudwy; in 12 ...

Urban District * Penllyn Rural District *

Tywyn Tywyn (; ), formerly spelled Towyn, is a town, community, and seaside resort on the Cardigan Bay coast of southern Gwynedd, Wales. It was previously in the historic county of Merionethshire. It is famous as the location of the Cadfan Stone, a ...

Urban District Under the

Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as ...

, the previous two-tier system of counties and districts was replaced with new

principal areas {{Short description, Formal legal term for a county in England and Wales In England and Wales local government legislation, a principal area is one of the sub-national areas established for control by a principal council. They include most of the ar ...

(each designated either a "county" or a "county borough"), whose councils perform the functions previously divided between the county and district councils. The area merged with the neighbouring Arfon and

Dwyfor Dwyfor was one of the five local government districts of Gwynedd, Wales from 1974 to 1996, covering the Llŷn peninsula. Its council was based in Pwllheli. History The district was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 ...

districts to become a county, which the government originally named ''Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire''. During the transition to the new system, the shadow authority requested a change of name from ''Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire'' to . The government confirmed the change with effect from 2 April 1996, one day after the new council came into being. Since 1996,

Gwynedd Council Gwynedd Council, which calls itself by its Welsh name , is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language. History The county of Gwynedd was c ...

has used the former Meirionnydd district as a committee area for discussing local matters.

Political control

The first election to Meirionnydd District Council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1974. Throughout the council's existence a majority of the seats on the council were held by independents:

Premises

The district council was based at in , which had been built in 1953 as the headquarters of the old Merioneth County Council. Since 1996 the building has served as an area office of Gwynedd Council.

References

{{Coord, 52.758, -3.835, display=title, region:GB_scale:500000 Cantrefs Districts of Gwynedd Kingdoms of Wales History of Gwynedd Merionethshire States and territories established in 1974 1974 establishments in Wales