Welsh Journals

the basic form is the W masc. noun bidwal, not listed in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru but defined, without analysis, in William Owen Pughe's dictionary (1832) as ammddiffynfa 'fortification, stronghold' in which case it may well be compounded of two elements, the W noun fern. bid 'lopped hedge, quickset hedge' + another W noun fern. (g)wal borrowed from OE weall 'wall' and may originally have indicated an enclosed area surrounded by a bank which was surmounted by a quickset hedge for the purpose of defence, but later becoming current as a term for an enclosed property. A similarly composed W noun is probably gwyddwal, with W gwydd 'wood(s), tree(s)' + (g)wal.92 The form bidwal, in addition to the examples quoted above, would seem to have a widespread distribution in Wales from north to south. It is evidenced in the vicinity of the town of Denbigh; in Tal-y-bidwal, Bryneglwys, Meirionydd; Bedwel, a township partly in the parish of Marchwiail, Denbighshire;93 Tyno Bydwal, not identified but recorded in early medieval poetry;94 Penbiddle, Gwent (Penbedyle, Penbedill, Penbedle 1600-7, Penbiddle 1729); Putwell in Llanfabon parish (Tyn y bwtwal 1763, Ty yn y Putwell 1776, Tie yn y Putwall 1758, Tyn y Bwtal 1795);95 Pitwell in Coedcernyw and Llanrhymni; Pitwellt near Pont-y-pwl and Manmoel; as the second element of the field-name Cae Vedwell 1847 near Three Crosses, Llanrhidian, Gower; and possibly in the form (y) fid-foel (Peder erw y vyd vole 1705, Kae vidvole 1744) in the area of Rhydypennau in Llanishen, Cardiff where there is also a road, Fidlas Road (y fid las). Provection of initial b- to give forms in p- is well evidenced (often under English influence) and the appearance of the excrescent final -t after (-) is reminiscent of a similar development in the form Cwnsyllt, from Coleshill, Clwyd.96 Pwll Rhaslas has a second element which is itself compounded of two elements and is the name of a large pond at SO 095 072 on Twyn-y-waun above Merthyr and opposite the town of Rhymni. The final element -las is the lenited form of the W adj. glas which, like several adjectives which denote colour in Welsh, can indicate quite a range, in this case from 'blue, greenish blue' to 'clear, greyish' etc. It is the first element Rhas, however, which is significant because of its early industrial connotation and its Welsh form, the plural form Rasau being that which was used as the name of the settlement near Beaufort, Gwent, locally Rasa. It is a Welsh borrowing from the common English noun race in both its senses, that which is run etc. as a contest of speed and, as is the case here as a place-name element, 'a flow or channel of water' as used in the compound mill-race. The term goes back to the early days of mineral extraction on the patches and survives in several names still to be found on the OS 1:25,000 map (sheet SO 00/10, Merthyr and Ebbw Vale). Iron ore in particular, coal subsequently, was mined in shallow levels and deposited in fixed places above which ponds were excavated (of far smaller proportions than the present Rhaslas Pond) and their walls breached to allow a flow of water to run down and so to wash or 'scour' the ore free of adhering soil and impurities. The water would be allowed either to flow freely or, as became more frequent, it was often directed along a constructed water-course. This was the race as is recalled in a gully called Brinore Race 1816, Ras Bryn Oer