It is a very hilly region stretching across the pass of Bwlch y Groes, from Bala Lake to Cadair Idris.

[9] In the cantref of Cynan, lies the village of Mallwyd, "delightfully situated between the salient angles of three abrupt mountains",[8] near the old boundary between the counties of Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire.

Dr. John Davies lived here in the mid-seventeenth century; he was involved with Bishop Parry of St Asaph in the translation of the bible into the Welsh language.

These were a band of red-haired robbers, highwaymen or footpads from the area of Mawddwy in Mid Wales in the 16th century, who became famous in folk literature.

They ambushed and murdered the Sheriff of Meirionnydd, Baron Lewis ap Owen on 12 October 1555, but were later apprehended and executed.