Welsh Journals

484 WALES. Castlemartin.. (extreme S. W. of county) Narberth .. (N. E. of Castlemartin) Koose .. . .(Haverfordwest and S. of it). .11 ) 5\.d • / hi Dungleddy . (N. of Haverfordwest).. 9 60 Border district. Dewisland Fishguard Kernes . Emlyn . . ,. (S. David's & neighbourhood) 0 4 I -S I----1 . (Newport and neighbourhood) 1 ! £ .. (extreme N. E. of county) .. 0 Turning to the list of parish names in the English district of Gower, near Swansea, I find in the same calendar that " ton " names are numerous there as well. Some of them, in fact, are precisely the same as those of south Pembrokeshire; as, for example, Cheriton and Reynoldston. Now we are told the foreigners placed in Gower were of the same race as those placed in Pembrokeshire. These " ton " names then seem to be of their invention. Consequently, one would think that these people once extended much further north in Pembroke county than the parts they now inhabit Monington, for example, is only about four miles south of Cardigan. How then shall we account for modern Welsh Pembrokeshire ? What became of the foreigners of the northern half of the shire ? They must either have been merged into those of Cymric blood, or they must have been harassed by the Welsh towards the lower banks of the two streams, Cleddau. The former seems more reasonable and credible, for otherwise the names of their little towns would have disappeared with them. Doubtlessly many English names passed out of existence under the pressure of Welsh influence. Shall we not say, then, that there is a not very small element of Flemish origin in the constitution of these people, but that the preponderance of Celtism has blotted out any directly visible manifestation of its existence ? 2. The Pembrokeshire coast is marked by Danish names to a more or less degree throughout its whole extent. For examples I give Tenby, Stackpole, Freystrop, Hasguard, Stack Rocks, and Strumble Head. These names again are far more prevalent in the south than north. But here in the north there is one spot where there must have been a settlement by no means insignificant, inasmuch as after the vicissitudes of wild centuries, Danish local names still abide. This spot is Fishguard, situated on the inmost extremity of a pleasant bay of the same name. This bay is bounded on the west by Pen Anglas and Strumble Head. On the same bay is situated the lovely little hamlet of Good- wick. Taking local names as one's only guidance, it would be thought that this alone was the seat of Danish settlers on the north coast of the county, but it seems probable that the Flemings would have retained Teutonic place names much more readily and naturally than the Welsh of the north, whose bitter hatred of foreigners was proverbial. Does not this fact then suggest the probability of a once larger number of foreign names in north Pem¬ brokeshire, which gradually disappeared under Cymric influences ? Thus we might imagine a large number of Danish colonists varying in extent, the smaller members of which disappeared in toto, whilst the larger ones, too, after a while, presented nothing of their true origin save the survival of one or two place names. If this theory be tenable, we regard Fishguard as having once been a settlement of goodly extent, an idea which my third point will show out still more clearly. 3. Fishguard is an ancient little town on the N. W. coast of Pembrokeshire, about seventeen miles south of Cardigan, It is well known as being in the vicinity of the spot where the French landed in 1797. Its Welsh name is Abergwaun, because it stands on the estuary of the river Gwaun. The population numbers about seventeen hundred. Like most* Welsh towns, English is gradually becoming the language of the people, though the sects still use Welsh, whilst the church service is bilingual. The four quarters of this town are called Hottipas, Wallis, Wys, and Slade. The last is the name given to a little glade, and is the Danish name for " dell." What the others mean I do not attempt to state, but who will call them Welsh ? Tradition is altogether silent. There is a small green • This I doubt very much. In many towns that I know much more Walsh is spoken than there was twenty years ago. Many towns, that were once purely English spnaking, are now purely Welsh s leaking,—e.g., Carnarvon, Conway, Beaumaris.—Ed,