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Little England and the language boundary at various dates

Little England beyond Wales is a name applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales. Although distant from the English border, it has been English in language and culture for many centuries. Although it is probably much older, the first known^[1] use of the term was in the sixteenth century, when Camden called the area Anglia Transwalliana. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... The Landsker Line traditionally divides the Welsh speaking part of the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire – essentially the north – from the part annexed by the Normans and settled by Flemings known as Little England beyond Wales. ... Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOVD Articles that have been linked to this page are the subject of an NPOV dispute (NPOV stands for Neutral Point Of View; see below). ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 636 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1043 × 983 pixel, file size: 102 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 636 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1043 × 983 pixel, file size: 102 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Pembrokeshire (Welsh: ) is a county in the southwest of Wales in the United Kingdom. ... Carmarthenshire (Welsh: ) is a one of thirteen historic counties and a principal area in Wales. ... This article is about the country. ... William Camden William Camden (May 2, 1551 - November 9, 1623) was an English antiquarian and historian. ...

History

The area was formerly part of the kingdom of Deheubarth, but it is unclear when it became distinguished from other parts of Wales. Charles ^[2] gives a survey of the evidence for early non-Welsh settlements in the area. "Scandinavians" raided in the 9th and 10th centuries, and some may have settled. There are scattered Scandinavian placenames in the area, mostly in the Hundred of Roose, north and west of the Cleddau river. Brut y Tywysogyon^[3] mentions many battles in southwest Wales and sackings of Menevia (St David's) in the pre-Norman period. Sometimes these were stated to be conflicts with Saxons, sometimes with people of unspecified origin. Whether these were “hit and run” raids from across the Bristol Channel or the work of a resident coastal population is unclear. The first explicit documentary evidence is that of Giraldus Cambrensis and Brut y Tywysogyon; "Flemings" were settled in south Pembrokeshire, soon after the arrival of the Normans in the early 12th century. Giraldus says this took place specifically in Roose. The previous inhabitants were said to have "lost their land", but this could mean either a total expulsion of the existing population, or merely a replacement of the land-owning class. The development of Haverfordwest as the castle and borough controlling Roose dates from this period. This plantation occurred under the auspices of the Norman invaders. The Normans placed the whole of Southwest Wales under military control, establishing castles over the entire area, as far north as Cardigan. However, Little England was only a small part of the area of the Norman March, and there is no evidence that its boundaries (mobile as they were) were ever defended or even recognised by the Norman overlords. Deheubarth was a south-western kingdom or principality of medieval Wales. ... The River Cleddau (Welsh: ) is to be found in south west Wales, in Pembrokeshire. ... Brut y Tywysogion (Chronicle of the Princes) is a monastic record of mainly Welsh events, started in 682. ... St Davids (Welsh: Tyddewi) is the smallest city in the United Kingdom, with a population of under 2,000 people. ... The famous parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging toRaedwald of East Anglia circa 625. ... Giraldus Cambrensis (c. ... Haverfordwest (Welsh: Hwlffordd) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, in south-west Wales. ... Cardigan (Welsh: Aberteifi) is the traditional county town of Cardiganshire (Ceredigion) in west Wales. ...

The documentary evidence available from the ensuing four centuries consists only of English and Welsh personal names, which may be used to track land ownership. It shows that the Englishry extended somewhat further north than in later times. That Flemish might have continued to be spoken is born out only by a statement of 1577 that a few families could still speak Flemish , although Owen in 1603 was adamant that Flemish was extinct. It is clear that, insofar as a "plantation" took place, the vast majority of immigrants were English. As for placenames, the greatest concentration of Anglo-Saxon names is in Roose, while there are considerable numbers of Welsh placenames in the rest of Little England, although these areas were certainly English-speaking. Flemish names are rare, and those that exist are based on personal names of landowners.

At the end of the Tudor period, George Owen of Henllys produced his "Description of Penbrokeshire" (sic)^[4], completed in 1603. He produced what amounts to a geographical analysis of the languages in the county, and his writings provided the vital source for all subsequent commentators. He is the first to emphasize the sharpness of the linguistic boundary. He says "yet do these two nations keep each from dealings with the other, as mere strangers, so that the meaner sort of people will not, or do not usually, join together in marriage, although they be in one hundred and sometimes in the same parish, nor commerce nor buy but in open fairs, so that you shall find in one parish a pathway parting the Welsh and English, and the one side speak all English, the other all Welsh, and differing in tilling and in measuring of their land, and divers other matters." Of Little England, he added "(they) keep their language among themselves without receiving the Welsh speech or learning any part thereof, and hold themselves so close to the same that to this day they wonder at a Welshman coming among them, the one neighbour saying to the other 'Look there goeth a Welshman'". He described the linguistic frontier in some detail, and his 1603 line is shown on the map. His description indicates that some northern parts had been re-colonised by Welsh speakers. The disruptions of the post-Black Death period may account for this. George Owen of Henllys (1552-August 26, 1613) was an English antiquarian, author, and naturalist. ... It has been suggested that Plague doctor be merged into this article or section. ...

Although Little England is described by several later writers, they do little but quote Owen. Quantitative descriptions of the linguistic geography of the area start with that of Ravenstein^[5], around 1870. This shows a further loss of territory since Owen's time (see map). From 1891 onward, linguistic affiliation in Wales have been assessed in the census, and the situations in 1901 and 1981 are shown in the map. The overall picture is that the boundary has moved to a significant, but small degree. The general impression, consistently emphasised by all writers, is of permanence. Furthermore, the boundary has always been described as sharp. John^[6], in 1972, said of the linguistic boundary that it "is a cultural feature of surprising tenacity; it is quite as discernable, and only a little less strong, than the divide of four centuries ago." The sharpness of the boundary (passing from mostly Welsh-speaking to mostly English-speaking in only a few kilometers) is interesting, since the boundary has never been legally defined or enforced in any way. It has clearly been maintained by a supple dynamic equilibrium between the two communities. The drawing-up of local government boundaries has obstinately ignored it. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Little England today

As mentioned by Owen, the cultural differences between Little England and the Welshry extend beyond language. Manorial villages are more common in Little England, particularly on the banks of the Daugleddau estuary, while the north has characteristically Welsh scattered settlements. Forms of agriculture are also distinct ^[7], although this mainly accords with land fertility rather than culture. Parish churches often have a characteristic tall, narrow castellated tower, in contrast with usual tower-less Welsh design. In domestic architecture, the "Flemish chimney" - a detached cylindrical structure - is characteristic of Little England, although it is also occasionally found in North Pembrokeshire. The name is typical of the semi-mythical nature of the "Flemish" influences: no such structures are to be found in Flanders, but they are to be found in southwest England, and this is the probable origin of both the chimneys and their builders. None of these distinctions is anything like as clear-cut as the difference of language. The language of Little England is a dialect most closely related to the English of Somerset and Devon. The River Cleddau (Welsh: ) is to be found in south west Wales, in Pembrokeshire. ... This article is about the county of Somerset in England. ... “Devonshire” redirects here. ...

On the other hand, Little England and the Welshry have many similarities. Typical Welsh surnames of patronymic origin (e.g. Edwards, Richards, Phillips etc) were almost universal in the Welshry in Owen's time, but they also accounted for 40% of names in Little England. A Y-chromosome study in Haverfordwest^[8] revealed a singularly undiluted "Celtic" population. According to John^[9], the majority of English-speaking Little England natives today regard themselves as Welsh, as did Giraldus Cambrensis, who was born on the south coast in 1146. Nonetheless, Little England natives are as protective of their language, and as resentful of imposed bilingualism^[10] as are the natives of the Welshry.

References

1. ^ Awbery, Gwenllian M, Cymraeg Sir Benfro/Pembrokeshire Welsh, Llanrwst, 1991, ISBN 0-86381-181-7
2. ^ Charles, B. G., The Placenames of Pembrokeshire, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1992, ISBN 0-907158-58-7, pp xxxv-lii
3. ^ Jones, Thomas, (ed.), Brut y Tywysogyon, Peniarth MS 20 Version, UoW Press, Cardiff, 1952
4. ^ Owen, George, The Description of Pembrokeshire Dillwyn Miles (Ed) (Gomer Press, Llandysul 1994) ISBN 1-85902-120-4
5. ^ Ravenstein, E. G., On the Celtic languages of the British Isles; a statistical survey, in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society XLII, 1879, 579-636
6. ^ John, Brian S., The Linguistic Significance of the Pembrokeshire Landsker in The Pembrokeshire Historian 4, 1972. pp 7-29
7. ^ Davies, M. F., Pembrokeshire, Part 32 (pp 75-170) of Stamp, L. D. (Ed.), The Land of Britain, Report of the Land Utilisation Survey, London, 1939
8. ^ Capelli, C., et al, A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles, in Current Biology,3, 2003, pp 979-984
9. ^ John, ibid, pp 19-20
10. ^ John, ibid, p 27

Further reading

• Aitchison, John W., and Carter, Harold, The Welsh Language 1961-1981: an interpretive atlas, UoW Press, 1985, ISBN 0-7083-0906-2

• Bowen, E. G., (Ed.), Wales: a Physical, Historical and Regional Geography, Methuen, 1957

• Davies, Thomas, Penfro Gymreig a Seisnig a’i Phobl in Y Berniad 4, 1914, pp 233-238.

• Jenkins, Geraint. H., (ed) The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution, UoW Press, 1997, ISBN 0-7083-1418-X

• Jenkins, Geraint. H., (ed) Language and Community in the 19th Century, UoW Press, 1998, ISBN 0-7083-1467-8

• Jenkins, Geraint. H., (ed) The Welsh language and its social domains 1801-1911, UoW Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7083-1604-2

• Jones, Emrys, and Griffiths, Ieuan L., A linguistic map of Wales: 1961, in The Geographical Journal, 129, part 2, 1963, p 195

• Pryce, W. T. R., Welsh and English in Wales, 1750-1971: A Spatial Analysis Based on the Linguistic Affiliation of Parochial Communities in Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 28, 1978, pp 1-36.

• Thomas, J. Gareth, The geographical distribution of the Welsh language, in The Geographical Journal, 122, part 1, 1956, pp 71-79

• Williams, D. Trevor, Linguistic divides in South Wales: a historico-geographical study, in Archaeologia Cambrensis 90, 1935, pp 239-66

• Williams, D. Trevor, A linguistic map of Wales according to the 1931 census, with some observations on its historical and geographical setting, in The Geographical Journal, 89, part 2, 1937, p 146-51

See also

• South Pembrokeshire