Welsh Journals

farm unit reaches the vegetation climax of the rest of the moorland. On the Ordnance Survey Map the presence of a spring (often named) is a good indication of the site of a former holding. Reasons for the origins and siting of these houses are as complex as the reasons for their disappearance. Initially the holding may have been the former summer- house ("hafoty"), which subsequently became an independent holding in late medieval times; possibly it may have originated as a "ty-un-nos". Whichever way it came into being one thing is certain: the movement into the hills was the direct response to population pressure and consequent "land hunger" on the old "tir priod" of the "tref". The disappearance of holdings in the course of the last century may be likewise attributed to a complex set of reasons; some are institutional while others are purely geographical. When the Enclosure Bill became law, many occupiers were dis- possessed if their "ty-un-nos" had been in existence for less than twenty years. It is difficult to locate the sites of individual houses from documentary evidence, but the writer would suggest that many houses above the 800 feet contour line were abandoned for this reason. Many houses, as already mentioned, originated as "hafotai" and their sites were at this time purely functional. Those which became permanently occupied were possibly inhabited by a son of the "hendre" situated on the "tir priod". With a change from a transhumance-pastoral economy to an arable economy, in the late seventeenth century, the site of the former "hafod" would not be nearly so suitable. Sited as it was in the high moorland, it would be isolated from communications and neighbouring farms. The advent of a change from subsistence farming to farming for profit brought in a new set of geographical values. Good accessibility was now an important consideration. In addition, there were also purely physical con- siderations the soils of the high moorland were very thin and skeletal with a tendency to develop "pans" there was an inclement climate with few sun- shine hours; and many areas were boggy. All these factors did not encourage the development of arable farming. Many "hafotai", however, attempted arable farming, but a larger proportion retained a pastoral economy in the form of sheep ranching. Most, however, declined due primarily to inaccessibility. At the present time local people speak of "going down country" ("mynd i lawr") to more hos- pitable soils and where there is an improved degree of accessibility, either on the death of the "pen teulu" (head of the "hendre" household), or when a valley farmer has moved, in turn, out into the lowlands of the east or Shropshire for higher quality and more easily cultivated land. It is interesting to note that in "Cwm Nant yr