MEDIOLANUM.-A Roman station described by Antonine and Ptolemy as situate at the point of crossing of the road from Rutunium (Rowton) to Mons Eriri (Tommen y Mur, near Tanybwlch), and Segontium (Carnarvon), and the Via Devana, or the road from Nidum (Neath) to Deva (Chester).-See Cam.-Briton, vol. i, p. 339. The exact locality of this long lost town has, during the last two hundred years, given rise to much controversy, and perhaps will ever remain a vexed question. It has been variously placed by some at Meifod, by others at Llanfyllin, at Drayton, at Penybont, between Meifod and Llanfyllin, and at Clawdd Coch in Llanymynech, not very far from the confluence of the Vyrnwy and Severn. The first of the above places (Meifod) is favoured by the local antiquary, Thomas Price, who argues in its support as follows:-- "Mediolanum ** can be neither Mathrafal nor Llanfyllin, but some third place between both, which, in my opinion, can be no other than Meifod, which has been very considerable in former times, and since their removal from Shrewsbury, the burial place of the princes of Powys; for, besides the parish church now standing, I myself have seen the ruins of two other churches, and been told of a Crefydd-dy or religious house, and several pavements and hearths have been digged up in the neighbourhood, of which one at a pretty distance from the present village is to this day called Gweirglawdd y porth, and at a like distance another way there is Pentref y Gof, the Smithfield of Mediolanum *** But to pinn the basket in Mr. Camden's own way, I find all the letters of Meifod in Mediolanum, and remaining put together make Melan, which added to Mifod, compose Melan Mifod, which is a true anagram of Mediolanum."-Letter to Mr. Josiah Babington of Llanerch, dated 12th April, 1701.--Cam. Reg., vol. i, p. 326. Pennant also (Tours, vol. iii, pp. 181, 182,) supports the same view, conjecturing the name to be a Latinised form of Meudwy-lan (the hermit's close). Camden, and some others, however, will have Llanfyllin to be the spot; but more probably it was at Clawdd Coch, Llanymynech, where there are to be found remains of a large and important Roman post, and which on a careful consideration of the Roman Iter, and of the various localities above referred to, was more probably the point of intersection of the two great roads.—See Rev. H. L. Jones "On the Antiquities of Montgomeryshire," Mont. Coll., vol. iii, p. 207. MEIFOD." A champaign place of settlement," according to Dr. Owen Pughe. As the late Rev. Walter Davies has written one of his exhaustive and highly interesting "Topographical Notices" about this parish, which may be found in the Cam. Quar. Mag., vol. i, pp. 320 and 430, and also in the collected edition of his Works, vol. iii, p. 92. I will only quote the following references from the poems of Cynddelw: "Caraf y lan a'r llen dan gadredd, Ger y mae Gwyddfarch uwch Gwynedd, Yn Meifod y maent arfyddon." (I love the spot whose surface (is trodden) by the brave, Near where Gwyddvarch is, above Gwynedd, A place of honeysuckles, the chieftain's seat, a serene region, A conspicuous enclosure, the burial-place of princes, The desire of bards (a numerous assembly, Studious, diligent, full of intrepidity), A privileged sanctuary, a bright cultivated spot; * * Carefully art thou, the fair and noble, respected; Cynddelw." Cân Tysilio."-Myv. Arch., p. 179. MEIGEN. "A recess." An ancient British town, somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Breiddin, the site of which was possibly identical, or nearly so, with that of the old Roman station Mediolanum (see supra.) This was the scene of a great battle between Cadwallon and King Edwin in the 7th century : "Lluest Cadwallawn ar Hafren, Ac o'r tu draw i Dygen, A breiaid yn llosgi Meigen." And the devourers were burning Meigen.) Llywarch Hen.-"Marwnad Cadwallawn.-Four Anc. Books of Wales, vol. i, p. 434, and ii, p. 277; and Myv. Arch., p. 97. The adoption of the leek as the national emblem is referred to the battle of Meigen; and for their heroic bearing in it, the men of Powys acquired their fourteen privileges: Gwyr Powys pobl disgywen, Cad orllawes orllawen, Pedair cynneddf cadw cadyr wrthen, (Men of Powys! a people renowned By a skilful contest of joyous result, Fourteen immunities strenuously upheld and respected Cynddelw." Breiniau Gwyr Powys."-Myv. Arch., p. 186. Awch roddaf arawd orawen gyffes Awch roddes awch reen Wrth awch bod awch bod yn llawen, Wrth awch bryd awch braint o Feigen," (To you I will dedicate a panegyric of joyful effusion, According to your desire your privilege from Meigen.) Cynddelw." Gwelygorddau Powys."-Ibid., p. 186. "Ac wedi mynegu hyny i Edwin ef a gynnullodd atto holl frenhinoedd y Saeson a hyd y maes a elwir Hedfeld yn erbyn Cadwallawn a dechreu ymladd a'r Brytaniaid. Ac yn y lle ar ddechreu yr ymladd y llâs Edwin a'i holl bobl haiach, ac Offrid ei fab yn nghyd ag ef a Gotbott brenhin Orc a ddothoedd yn borth iddo a'r rhan fwyaf or eu llu yn nghyd ag hwynt.' (And when that was told Edwin he gathered to himself all the kings of the English unto the plain called Hedfeld, against Cadwallawn, and began to fight with the British. And there, at the beginning of the battle, Edwin and almost all his people were killed, and Offrid, his son, with him, and Gotbott, King of Orc [Orkney ?] who had come to his assistance, and with them the greater part of their host.)-" Brut G. ab Arthur." Ibid., p. 552. Bede also (Hist. Eccles. ii, 20) gives a similar account, stating that the battle where Edwin and his sons fell was fought "in the plain called Haethfelth;" supposed to be Hatfield, in Yorkshire. Nennius, however, calls this battle "Bellum Meicen," and in the Annales Cambria, we find it referred to as "Gueith Meiceren, et ibi interfectus est Etguin cum duobus filiis suis. Catguollaun autem victor fuit." Hence it has been assumed by Stephens, Woodward, and others, that Meigen and Haethfelth are one and the same place. It is sufficiently evident, however, as pointed out by the Rev. D. Silvan Evans, in his notes to the Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. ii, p. 443, "that the Meigen of Llywarch Hen, must be somewhere in Powys, and at no great distance from the Severn." It follows that either (1) there were two places bearing this name ; or (2) Haethfelth must have been in the valley of the Severn, and not as has been supposed at Hatfield, in Yorkshire; or (3) Bede and G. ab Arthur (Geoffrey of Monmouth), who possibly copied from him, were wrong in stating that Edwin and his sons fell at Haethfelth; or (4) Nennius and the Annales are wrong in ascribing their death to the battle of Meigen. (To be continued.) LLANRHAIADR-YN-MOCHNANT. ITS PAROCHIAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. BY THOMAS W. HANCOCK. CHAP. I. MOCHNANT. THE ancient territorial division called the commot of Mochnant was divided, in the time of Prince Owen Gwynedd, circa 1170, into two divisions. "In that year was slain Iorwerth Goch [the Red], son of Maredud, from his nation and his wealth in Mochnant, by the two Owains. And those two Owains shared and divided Mochnant between them, so that Mochnantuwch-Raeadyr fell to Owain Kyfeiliawc and Mochnantis-Raeadyr to Owain Vychan." Such is the brief reference made in the Chronicle or "Brut" of the Princes, to the dividing of the commot. The present manor of Mochnant uwch Raeadyr] as exhibited in the Lord's (the Earl of Powis's) books, embraces the parishes of Llangynog, Pennant, Hirnant, the township of Marchnantucha in the parish of Llanwddyn, and the townships of Glanhavon, Cefncoch, Nantfyllon, Castellmoch, and Marchnant-isa in the parish of Llanrhaiadr, in Montgomeryshire. And Mochnant [is Raeadyr] embraces the remaining townships of the parish of Llanrhaiadr, the parish of Llanarmon-Mynydd-Mawr, the townships of Llangedwin and Serwgan in the parish of Llangedwyn, portions of the parishes of Llanarmon Dyffrynceiriog, and Llangadwaladr in Denbighshire. The commots of Cynllaith Owain, and Cynllaith Tir Iarll, for certain civil purposes, as for assessing for the land and income taxes, etc., are united to portions of Mochnant, and are designated under the united title of "Cynllaith and Mochnant." Brithdir, a township in the parish of |