Why Llyndruth Field, not Llyndruth Fields?

[tmcd]

I wonder why, in High Deryni, Llyndruth Meadows were Llyndruth Meadows and not Llyndruth Well-Populated Farmland. It does get called "Meadows", which is promising for growing corn in a temperate climate. (What is "corn"? That means whatever grain is best suited to the place. Corn is wheat, rye, barley, oats, whatever.) We don't get much physical description other than that. Grass is mentioned. There's a small knoll to the right of center that Kelson's party mounts before the first parley, but there are good sightlines for a mile or so to the Torenthi lines, and they can see Cardosa and the pass. After the mass hanging, the Gwynedd army is preparing to charge, so the land couldn't be too broken or rocky. So I think it's safe to assume that the land is decent enough, at least for grazing, maybe even plowland.

So why unpopulated? Maybe raiders from either direction came through frequently enough that people didn't want to live there? But (for example) the English-Scots border had people living there, and Lord knows they had raiders through the windows every night of the week and down the chimneys every Sunday and major feast. Plus you'd expect Cardosa and Cardosa pass in Gwynedd's hands would help against raiding.

As an aside, having population there would have eased a little a factor that Katherine didn't mention: food supplies. The horses can eat somewhat, though Western warhorses still need grain. If they drove stock with them, they eat. But what of the men? Thinking of it, if people had been there, I'm not sure it would have helped much. A few thousand men, in England of the same year, would have been a substantial city, and Llyndruth had been blessed with two cities. If Gwynedd drove the peasants west and looted foraged their food, the Codex says it's early July, so they just have the winter crops and the leavings from the last year. The carefully-raised fruit trees or shade trees would have been firewood for the first night or two.

Anyway. Can anyone make heads or tails of the name "Llyndruth Meadows"?

[Bynw]

Checking online for medieval differences for the term "meadow" vs "field". And I get that a Meadow is grassland used for haymaking. Very important for winter months to feed livestock with the hay. While a field was used for growing crops. It wasn't cropland, even though the soil was fertile and moist, since it was used as a haymaking.

[tmcd]

(BTW, I was being a smart-aleck with "Why Llyndruth Field". A less-common definition of "field" is "battlefield". Which it was, albeit small.)