Meifod

Stand at the gate and look at the shape of the churchyard. It is enormous, and it curves.

That combination is the signature of a clas: an early mother church with a community of clergy serving a wide territory, predating the parish system entirely. The curving enclosure is the boundary of the original sacred ground, and at Meifod it encloses several acres, which puts it among the largest in Wales.

Why here

The Vyrnwy valley is good lowland, and this was the heart of the kingdom of Powys before Mercia pushed it west. Mathrafal, a mile and a half away, is traditionally the principal royal seat of Powys, and Meifod was its church.

Mathrafal is described in medieval Welsh sources as one of the three royal seats of Wales, alongside Aberffraw and Dinefwr.

Meifod's importance is on firmer ground. Madog ap Maredudd, the last ruler of an undivided Powys, died in 1160 and was buried here. The church was the burial place of the princes of Powys, which in the twelfth century made it something like a dynastic mausoleum.

The church

Three churches are recorded on the site in succession, dedicated to Gwyddfarch, Tysilio and finally St Mary. The present building is largely twelfth century with later work and a Victorian restoration.

The object to look for is the cross slab: a large carved stone, probably eleventh century, with interlace, a ring cross and figures. It is unusual, it is important, and it is inside the church. What it commemorates is not known.

Mathrafal

The earthwork is on private land north of the village, visible from the road. It is a substantial ringwork and bailey.

The relationship between the tradition of a royal seat and what is actually in the ground is exactly the sort of thing this site flags rather than smooths over. Something significant was here. Whether it was what the medieval poets said it was is another question.

Now

A quiet village of stone and brick houses in a wide valley, with the Vyrnwy running past and the Berwyn to the north-west.

The National Eisteddfod has been held in the fields here more than once, which for a place this size is a reasonable indication of how much room the valley has and how the Vyrnwy country still thinks of itself.