Welsh Journals

of Montgomeryshire's parishes, also important in earlier times as the resting place of the kings of Powys. The Norman Conquest impressed itself on Montgomeryshire as the very name of the county shows. The castle took its name from Earl Roger of Mont- gomery in Calvados, Normandy. The Welsh equivalent, Castell Baldwyn and later Trefaldwyn almost certainly refer to that Baldwin de Bollers to whom Mont- gomery was granted in 1102. The creation of boroughs after the complete conquest is reflected in Newtown or Y Drenewydd (also known more fully as Llanfair yng Nghedewain). Anglo-Norman church reformation was as vigorous as civil re-organization and many of the Welsh dedications to Mary date from this period they were so numerous indeed that they were almost invariably quali- fied, cf. Llanfair yng Nghedewain and Llanfair Caereinion. Michael was a favourite Norman dedication, but in some cases it is older cf. Llanfihangel yng Ngwynfa. The parish church of Kerry (Ceri) is frequently known as Llanfihangel yng Ngheri. One other parish name I should mention here is Betws (Cedewain) from the Old English form bed-hus prayer-house'. III As a short appendix it might be useful to stress the importance of early forms of place-names and the corresponding danger of relying on forms in modern maps. Here are two examples. The 1 inch O.S. Sheet 128 has in square 9798 the form Bedwsyth in the parish of Carno. Standing alone it would be possible to interpret it as bedw + syth, i.e. straight birches a reasonable explanation in default of other evidence. How- ever Sheet 60 of the O.S. published in 1836 has Bydosydd. The farm was once owned by Strata Marcella and an inspeximus charter of 1322 has the form Ebed- wosset. (Cal. Charter Rolls, iii. 439). In 1630 the form was Bedwosseth (Mont. Coll. xxxiii. 117, 124. These three earlier forms, taken together, make it plain that we are dealing with Y Bedwosydd, i.e. the plural of bedwos birch grove cf. the Monmouthshire parish of Bedwas. The z 10. S. Sheet 22/98 has in square 9587 the form Hiriae th in the parish of Llanidloes. O.S. 60 (1836) again comes to our rescue with Hiriarth-fawr, and Strata Marcella documents in 1208-10 provide the forms hirard and hirarht (Mont. Coll. li. 182-3). The name is therefore made up of hir long and garth ridge cf. Hirgevn (i.e. Hir Gefn long ridge ') in Lhuyd, Parochialia, i. 147 under Llan- fair Dyffryn Clwyd. A similar malformation may be noted in O.S. 1 inch Sheet 117, square 0705, Rhiw Hiriaeth in Llanfair Caereinion. Early forms here too prove that the place was Rhiwhiriarth.