Welsh Journals

church in South Wales is of particular interest precisely because of the subtle interaction between an old-established "clas" organisation and the Norman diocese of Llandaf. Lastly, at the end of the frontier period, the author finds in Gerald the Welshman an expression of "a spirit of nationalism which was new in Welsh history," and this he regards as a direct product of frontier pressures. Yet, again, seventy years earlier, another writer, Ordericus, who knew his Wales and his Welshmen, noted with approval their ancient independence and their refusal to submit to the menace of the Normans. For him this was not a new feature on the Welsh scene but, rather, the re-emergence of characteristics which had long been recognised. At each point, the "facts"have been fossilised and then fitted into the thesis, where, instead, the thesis might have reopened and extended our discussion of these issues. The debate continues, and this book will prove to be a valuable stimulus as the early history of the Welsh marches is re-explored and re-appraised. DAVID WALKER HISTORY OF MERIONETH. Volume i. From the Earliest Times to the Age of the Princes. By E. G. Bowen and C. A. Gresham. General Editor, E. D. Jones. Dolgellau: The Merioneth Historical and Record Society. 1967. xv + 298pp. 63J. Merioneth is, in terms of population and economic resources, one of the smallest and least wealthy of Welsh counties. But it has been rich in its sense of history, and prolific of notable historians and antiquaries like Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt and W. W. E. Wynne of Peniarth. The tradition is worthily and vigorously upheld by the present Historical and Record Society of the County. All credit to it for embarking in 1957 on an ambitious plan for a county history in three or four volumes. Still more praise to it for so successfully publishing this the first volume of the series. Only those who have had the wearisome experience of being responsible for trying to produce a county history know just what an uphill fight it can be. Expertus loquor I This first volume covering the prehistory of the county, the Roman occupa- tion and the Dark Ages, is very largely the work of Mr. Colin Gresham, who was responsible for some 260 out of the 290 or so pages. It is difficult to overpraise the enthusiasm, industry, thoroughness and clarity with which he has sought and presented his material. His work for this period com- pletely supersedes the Inventory published by the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in 1921 and is, in itself, an astonishing tour de force of a one-man inventory. His chapters offer not merely an admirable survey of the general implications of the archaeological record but also give a detailed description of individual sites coupled with full and precisely-documented lists. The whole is rounded off with a series of admirable plates, plans and maps. The details revealed in these chapters show Merioneth's prehistory to