Welsh Journals

A HISTORY OF THE PARISH OF LLANMEREWIG. By THE REV. RICHARD GIBBINGS, D.D., RECTOR, AND BASIL EVAN JONES, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. I. NAME. IN commencing a History of the Parish of Llanmerewig, we find ourselves immediately confronted by one of the most puzzling of the questions which are connected with it. We refer to its name, about the meaning and origin of which there is much uncertainty. On the analogy of the names of most parishes in Wales some have supposed the word to mean St Merewig's Church;" this view has, however, never been acceptable to Welsh scholars for the following reason: — St. Merewig is quite unknown, nor can the slightest sign of such a name be found in Welsh hagiology. Apart from this fatal silence we have other even stronger evidence tradition has always ascribed the foundation of the church in this parish to St. Llwchaiarn, from whom the neighbouring parish of Llanllwchaiarn took its sonorous name and the Rev. John Fisher, whose name will always be associated with those of our Welsh Saints, has in the course of his researches discovered a metrical life in the Welsh tongue of Llwchaiarn, Warrior and Saint, of Llamyrewig," by an early sixteenth century poet, which he has kindly permitted us to reproduce further on in this parochial history. Moreover, even if tradition had not pointed in this manner to St. Llwchaiarn, there still remains an insurmountable difficulty. After the prefix Llan, M is invariably softened to F, as in the cases of Llanfair and Llanfih angel. We meet with an apparent exception in