Cemmaes

Cemmaes sits in the Dyfi valley between Machynlleth and Llanbrynmair, in a bend of the river that gives it its name.

Mathafarn

A mile or so from the village is Mathafarn, the house of Dafydd Llwyd, a poet of some standing in the later fifteenth century.

In August 1485 Henry Tudor, marching from Milford Haven towards Bosworth, is said to have stayed the night at Mathafarn and to have asked Dafydd Llwyd whether he would win. The poet, put on the spot, is said to have consulted his wife, who advised him to prophesy victory — on the grounds that if Henry won he would be rewarded, and if he lost there would be nobody to complain.

What is not in doubt is that Welsh prophetic poetry did real political work in 1485. Henry's claim rested substantially on Welsh descent and on the idea of y mab darogan, the son of prophecy who would restore British rule, and poets like Dafydd Llwyd had been preparing that ground for years.

The house that stands is later, with earlier fabric.

The village

St Tydecho's church is dedicated to a sixth-century saint with several dedications in this valley, and the churchyard is raised and curving in the way that indicates an early enclosure.

The village itself is small, stone-built and strung along the road above the river.

Cemmaes Road

A mile and a half away is a separate settlement, now generally called Glantwymyn, which grew entirely because the Cambrian Railways put a junction there in the 1860s where the Mawddwy branch left the main line.

The branch closed to passengers in 1931 and entirely in 1951, and the junction station closed in 1965. The settlement remains, which is a common pattern: the railway created a village and then left it there.

Around

Machynlleth is six miles west, with the Parliament House and the clock tower. Llanbrynmair is five miles east.

The Dyfi valley here is the boundary country between Powys and Gwynedd, and the hills north of the river rise quickly towards Aran Fawddwy.