Rhos ( Welsh for 'moor' / 'moorland') is a region to the east of the River Conwy in north Wales. It started as a minor kingdom then became a medieval cantref, and was usually part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd (later the region became part of Denbighshire, then Clwyd, and is now in Conwy county borough).
Rhos is identified as a small kingdom during the sub-Roman and early medieval periods in an Old Welsh genealogical document ‘Ancestry of the Kings and Princes of Wales’ listing thirteen of its kings (including two who are known to have ruled the wider region of Gwynedd).
The most famous monarch was perhaps Cynlas Goch, the son of Owain Ddantgwyn, who lived in the early 6th century and was denounced by the monk, Gildas. He wrote (in Latin) that Cynlas was the “guider of the chariot which is the receptacle of the bear“. The latter may refer to a “Fort of the Bear”, possibly Dinerth, the name of a hillfort on Bryn Euryn in Llandrillo-yn-Rhos. The road that runs below the western side of the hill is still called Dinerth Road and Dinarth Hall is nearby.
The Gwynedd Archaeological Trust have undertaken a trial excavation of this hillfort and set up related information boards in Colwyn Bay Library. Their investigations revealed a massive defensive stone wall, well built and faced with good-quality limestone blocks originally rising to about ten feet high. The ramparts were eleven and a half feet thick. These defences are unlike those of Iron Age hillforts but comparable with similar medieval fortifications, so may represent a possible stronghold of the Kings of Rhos.
By the 11th century, Rhos was part of Gwynedd Is Conwy (Gwynedd "below" the River Conwy) as an administrative unit known as a cantref. Along with its three adjoining cantrefi, the area was known as Y Berfeddwlad or the 'Middle Country' lying between Gwynedd and Powys and often changing hands between those two powerful kingdoms. With the loss of Welsh independence in 1283, Rhos became part of the lordship of Denbigh, as granted to the English Earl of Lincoln. The cantrefi were abolished in 1536 with the creation of Denbighshire, but the name of Rhos survives today in places such as Llandrillo-yn-Rhos (Rhos-on-Sea), Llanelian-yn-Rhos, and Penmaen Rhos.
Creuddyn was a historic commote of Rhos, then later of Caernarfonshire. [1]
Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a cantref, a district and, as Merionethshire, a county.
Denbighshire is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthin is the administrative centre. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name.
The Kingdom of Gwynedd 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.
Rhos-on-Sea is a seaside resort and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The population was 7,593 at the 2011 census. It adjoins Colwyn Bay and is named after the Welsh kingdom of Rhos established there in late Roman Britain as a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd. It later became a cantref (hundred).
North Wales is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia National Park and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, known for its mountains, waterfalls and trails, wholly within the region. Its population is concentrated in the north-east and northern coastal areas, with significant Welsh-speaking populations in its western and rural areas. North Wales is imprecisely defined, lacking any exact definition or administrative structure. It is commonly defined administratively as its six most northern principal areas, but other definitions exist, with Montgomeryshire historically considered to be part of the region.
The Castle of Dinerth is a Welsh castle located near Aberarth, Ceredigion, west Wales that was completed c. AD 1110. It is also known as Hero Castle, presumably from the Norse hiro.
A commote was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix cym- and the noun bod. The English word "commote" is derived from the Middle Welsh cymwt.
Ednyfed Fychan, full name Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig, was a Welsh warrior who became Seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in Northern Wales, serving Llywelyn the Great and his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Ednyfed claimed descent from Marchudd ap Cynan, Lord of Rhos, 'protector' of Rhodri Mawr, King of Gwynedd. He was the ancestor of Owen Tudor and thereby of the Tudor dynasty.
Rhos or Rhôs may refer to these places in Wales:
Llandrillo yn Rhos is the name of an electoral ward in Conwy County Borough, Wales. Its boundaries are coterminous with those of the community of Rhos-on-Sea, on the North Wales coast, with the Mochdre and Rhiw wards to the south, Penrhyn ward to the west and Liverpool Bay to the northeast.
Cuneglasus was a prince of Rhos in Gwynedd, Wales, in the late 5th or early 6th century. He was castigated for various sins by Gildas in De Excidio Britanniae. The Welsh form Cynlas Goch is attested in several genealogies of the Rhos royal line. The two names are assumed to refer to the same ruler.
Rhufoniog was a small sub-kingdom of the Dark Ages Gwynedd, and later a cantref in medieval Wales.
Perfeddwlad or Y Berfeddwlad was an historic name for the territories in Wales lying between the River Conwy and the River Dee. comprising the cantrefi of Rhos, Rhufoniog, Dyffryn Clwyd and Tegeingl. Perfeddwlad thus was also known as the Four Cantrefs.
Gwent was a medieval Welsh kingdom, lying between the Rivers Wye and Usk. It existed from the end of Roman rule in Britain in about the 5th century until the Norman invasion of Wales in the 11th century. Along with its neighbour Glywyssing, it seems to have had a great deal of cultural continuity with the earlier Silures, keeping their own courts and diocese separate from the rest of Wales until their conquest by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Although it recovered its independence after his death in 1063, Gwent was the first of the Welsh kingdoms to be overrun following the Norman conquest.
The Kingdom of Dyfed, one of several Welsh petty kingdoms that emerged in 5th-century sub-Roman Britain in southwest Wales, was based on the former territory of the Demetae. The medieval Irish narrative, The Expulsion of the Déisi, attributing the kingdom's founding to Eochaid, son of Artchorp, being forced across the Irish sea, in the 5th century; his descendants founding the line of the kings of Dyfed, down to "Tualodor mac Rígin". The Normans invaded Wales, and by 1138 incorporated Dyfed into a new shire called Pembrokeshire after the Norman castle built in the Cantref of Penfro and under the rule of the Marcher Earl of Pembroke.
Ystrad Tywi is a region of southwest Wales situated on both banks of the River Towy, it contained places such as Cedweli, Carnwyllion, Loughor, Llandeilo, and Gwyr. Although Ystrad Tywi was never a kingdom itself, it was historically a valuable territory and was fought over by the various kings of Dyfed, Deheubarth, Seisyllwg, Gwynedd, Morgannwg and the Normans.
The ruined remains of Llys Euryn sit upon a wooded shoulder of Bryn Euryn — a limestone hill on the outskirts of Rhos-on-Sea in the county of Conwy, north Wales. Three sides of the building remain, with the remains of interior walls, a complete fireplace and chimney stack rising to around 50 feet, two other fireplaces and windows. More than anything else, its history makes this one of the more intriguing and important historical buildings in north Wales.
Edeirnion or Edeyrnion is an area of the county of Denbighshire and an ancient commote of medieval Wales in the cantref of Penllyn. According to tradition, it was named after its eponymous founder Edern or Edeyrn. It was included as a Welsh territory of Shropshire in the Domesday Book.
Saint Trillo is the patron saint and founder of the churches at Llandrillo, Denbighshire and Llandrillo yn Rhos, Rhos-on-Sea in Conwy County Borough, Wales.
Mochnant was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys.