kimkat3815k ARCHAEOLOGIA
CAMBRENSIS. 6TH SERIES. VOL. III, PART
I. IONAWR 1903. J. E. LLOYD. YSTRAD YW.
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Cymru-Catalonia J. E. LLOYD. ARCHAEOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS. CYFRES 6. CYFROL III. RHAN I. IONAWR 1903. |
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ARCHAEOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS. 6TH SERIES. VOL. III, PART I. JANUARY 1903. |
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82 Archaeological Notes and Queries. Ystrad Yw: Its Original Situation. — Of the cantrefs and commotes of
Wales some take their names from leading physical characteristics, such as
Arfon, Nant Conwy, Dyffryn Clwyd, Ystrad Alun, Deuddwr, Deugleddyf, and Glyn
Rhondda. A large number are clearly derived from personal names, such as
Meirionydd, Rhufoniog, Gwynllwg, Cydweli (Cadwal), Catheiniog (Cathen),
Gwerthrynion (Gwrtheyrn), and Edeyrnion. There is a third class, which can
only be explained on the supposition that the district took its title from
some principal centre within it, which was either the residence of the chief
or the meeting-place of the community. To this class belong not only such
obvious instances as the cantrefs of Môn (Aberffraw, Cemais, Rhosyr) and the
commotes of Tegeingl (Rhuddlan, Prestatyn, Cownsillt), but others also, in
which the facts are obscured through the disappearance of the name in its
original application. It cannot be doubted that Cemais in Dyfed, Geneu’r Glyn
and Pennardd in Ceredigion, Caer Einion, Rhiwallt, Tindaethwy, Ystum Anner,
were, first of all, names of places before they were used to designate fairly
large districts; and if the place so styled could be in each case identified,
something would be done to elucidate the early history of the Welsh territorial
divisions. One of the names of this class is Ystrad Yw. At first sight it
appears to belong to the first group mentioned, that of names which are at
once explained on consideration of the natural features of the district. But
the resemblance to such forms as Ystrad Tywi and Ystrad Alun is deceptive. In
this south-eastern corner of Brecknock, the only valley important enough to
give its name to the whole region is that of the Usk, and Ystrad Wysg is a
form nowhere to be found. Nor may we follow Theophilus Jones in his bold
alteration of Ystrad Yw into Ystrad Wy, “the vale of waters,” (1) for this
form also is entirely without authority. Hence what we have to look for is
some spot within the limits of the historical Ystrad Yw, where the name finds
ready explanation, and where a primitive centre may be supposed to have
stood. It is perhaps as well to say that in this enquiry we need not concern
ourselves about Roman roads. Ystrad cannot be derived from the Latin Strâtum
or Strâta, which in modern Welsh would yield “Ystrod,” but is from a cognate
Celtic root which has the vowel short, and denotes, not the levelled road,
but the level “Strath,” or valley-bottom. (2) A tract of alluvial land, such
as is to be found at Ystrad, near Denbigh, Ystrad Gynlais, and Ystrad Meurig,
is what must be kept in the mind’s eye in our endeavour to trace Ystrad Yw to
its origin. 1 History of Breconshire, p. 378 of the reprint of 1898. 2 Whitley Stokes, Urkeltischer Sprachschatz, p. 818; Loth, Mots Latins
dans les Langues Brittoniques, p. 217; Phillimore, Y Cymmrodor, vol. xi, p.
150. |
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ARCHAELOGICAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 88 As to the bounds of the district so called (which was probably at one
time a cantref, though it is nowhere explicitly described as such), they
offer no special difficulty. It was one of the districts claimed in the
twelfth century for the diocese of Llandaff, and the limits of the diocese as
enlarged by this and other claims are so described in the Liber Landavensis
(pp. 42 and 134 of the edition of 1893), as to show that Ystrad Yw was parted
from the rest of Brycheiniog by the river Crawnon, Buckland Hill, and a line
which ran thence to the source of the Grwyne. It was, in fact, identical with
the. modern hundred of Crickhowel, which was in Leland’s time the hundred of
“Estradewe,” (1) and which includes the eight parishes of Llanfihangel Cwm
Du, Llangynidr, Llangattock, Crickhowel, Llanelly, Llangeneu, Llanbedr Ystrad
Yw and Partrishow. (2) At an early period, perhaps before the time of the
Norman occupation of Brycheiniog, Ystrad Yw was divided into two commotes or
lordships, sometimes known as Ystrad Yw Uchaf and Ystrad Yw Isaf, (3) but
also as Eglwys Iail and Crug Hywel, (4) from two well-known places within
them; well known, that is to say, at the time, for the site of Eglwys Iail
has not been satisfactorily determined. (5) Henceforth, there is a disposition
to limit the name Ystrad Yw to the western division, which was held of the
lord of Brecknock by Picard and his descendants (8); but the name Llanbedr
Ystrad Yw, and the inclusion by the Liber Landavensis in “Istratyu,” not only
of “lannpetyr,” but also of “merthir issiu,” i.e., Partrishow (p. 279), leaves no doubt as to
the extent of the original district. The key to the name is to be found, I believe, in that of a farm,
situated about half a mile south of Bwlch, on the main road from Brecon to
Crickhowel. In the new 1-in. Ordnance Map (Sheet 214) it appears as Llygadwy;
but Theophilus Jones, in a passing reference (p. 417), calls it Llygadyw, and
on the occasion of our Association’s visit to the district in August last, I
ascertained, by a wayside enquiry, that the local pronunciation is Llygad Yw.
The information was all the more valuable in that it was followed by a little
amateur etymology, connecting the name with “ywen,” a 1 Jones, Breconshire, p. 382. 2 These parishes also form the joint manor of Tretower and Crickhowel
(Appendix M to Report of Welsh Land Commission). 3 Peniarth MS. 147, as printed in vol. i, Pt. II, of Mr. Gwenogvryn
Evans’s Report on MSS. in the Welsh Language. 4 See the lists of cantrefs and commotes in the Myvyrian Archaiology,
The Red Book of Hergest (ed. Evans, vol. ii, p. 410); Hengwrt MS. 34
(Cymmrodor, vol. ix, p. 330); and Leland’s Itinerary (v. 19). 5 Jones (Breconshire, p. 424) says that the brook which flows past
Llangynidr Church is called Iail, and he fixes Eglwys Iail accordingly here.
But in Peniarth MS. 147 (Report, p. 918) “Llan Fair a Chynydr” and “Eglwys
Iail” are separately mentioned; and this appears to be also the case in the
“Taxatio” of Pope Nicholas, though “Sco Kened” may possibly be Aberysgir. 6 Picard was one of the original donors to Brecon Priory; see the
charter of 1104 to 1106 in Archaeologia Cambrensis, 4th Ser., vol. xiv, pp.
142,143. A charter of his grandson, John Picard (ibid., p. 168), shows that
the gift was of land and tithes in “Stradewi.” |
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84 ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES AND
QUERIES. yew tree, and thus satisfying me that there had been no attempt to alter
it to its present form in the interests of a connection with Ystrad Yw. Now,
at Llygad Yw a little stream takes its rise, which flows east for about two
miles over level country, and finally falls into the Rhiangoll, in a true
“strath” or “ ystrad,” close to the castle and village of Tretower. Its name
is given by Theophilus Jones as “Ewyn” (pp. 416, 417), which looks like an
attempt to improve upon “ Yw,” and at any rate requires confirmation before
it can be accepted as the ancient name of the streamlet. My informant could
not give me any distinctive name of the brook: a kind of ignorance which,
unhappily for antiquaries, is not uncommon. The use of “llygad” (eye) to
denote the source of a stream is by by no means uncommon. The Rheidol takes its rise in Llyn Llygad Rheidol, beneath the crags of
Plynlimmon. “Licat arganhell” appears in the Liber Landavensis (p. 173), “
arganhell” being shown by another passage (p. 75) to be the name of a stream.
In the Mirabilia of Nennius (p. 217 of Mommsen’s edition), reference is made
to “fontem qui cognominatur Licat Anir,” and as the place is said to be in
“Ercing” (Archenfield), and the texts seem to allow us to read “Amir,” we
have probably to do with the source of the Gamber (“Gamber Head” in modern
maps), which is often “Amir” in the Laber Landavensis. Llygad Yw itself is
mentioned, though not by that name, in a document drawn up in 1234, included
in the Cartulary of Brecon Priory, and printed in Archaeologia Cambrensis,
4th Ser., vol. xiii, p. 283. The situation of the land of Bernard Fychan is
indicated, and mention is made of a brook which “descendit a fonte subtus
Boghlek versus villam de Straddewy.” This brook can be none other than the Yw
or Ewyn, for “Boghlek,” or to give the better form found on p. 285,
“Bochelet,” is Buckland, first found in the Liber Landavensis (pp. 42, 134)
in the name “Llech Bychlyd.” Thus the original Ystrad Yw is the little vale in which stands the Roman
fort of Y Gaer, and which merges into that of the Rhiangoll at Tretower. It
will thus seem quite natural that Llanfihangel Cwm Du should figure in the
“Taxatio” of Pope Nicholas (p. 273) as “ecclesia de Stratden” (=Stratdeu),
and that Tretower should in the older records be “villa Stradewi.” (2) But
whether the Welsh lords of the district had a fortress at Tretower itself,
bearing the name Ystrad Yw, or whether their home was in a different quarter
of the valley, must be left for the present an open question. 1 The west gate of Tretower was known as Porth Bychlyd: see a charter of
Roger Pichard the second in Archeologia Cambrensis, 4th Ser., vol. xiv, p.
221— “quamdam partem terre mee apud Stretdewi iuxta portam occidentalem que
dicitur Porta Boket.” 2 The charters in the Brecon cartulary invariably have this parasitic i
at the end of the name, but no inference need be drawn from this, save that
non-Welsh clerks, having once got hold of a Welsh name by the wrong end,
were, as in the classical instance of “Gannoc” for Degannwy, exceedingly slow
to give up their error. J. E. Lloyd. |
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