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Irish Principality
in Wales
Carnarvon, Merioneth, and Cardigan, with a portion at
least of Denbighshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnor-
shire, and that the same clans that occupied Anglesey and
Gwynedd also occupied the Isle of Man, which, as is well
known, was an Irish possession before the Norman in-
vasion.
Dr. Jones's work was brought out in 1851 and in it he
showed that Irishmen were in possession of North Wales
at the time of the collapse of Roman rule in Britain.
Since the appearance of his work our knowledge on this
and we are now
subject has widened very considerably
in possession of evidence which shows that not only North
Wales but South Wales as well were Irish dependencies.
The invasion and extent of the settlement of the Irish in
South and West Britain are established by the discovery
of Ogham inscriptions.
Ogham is a purely Irish form of writing and Ogham
inscriptions have been found only in Ireland, the Isle
of Man, Scotland, Wales and the southwest of England.
More than five-sixths of the known inscriptions have been
found in Ireland itself, and it is to be noted that more
Oghams have been found in Wales than in Scotland, the
character of which as an Irish province has never been
lost sight of. The total number of known inscriptions
appears to be about 360 and of the Irish inscriptions, num-
bering about 300, five-sixths have been found in what are
now the counties of Kerry, Cork and Waterford. Scot-
in Devon
land has 1 6 Oghams; the Isle of Man has 6;
and Cornwall there are 5; Wales has over 30 Oghams,
of which 13 are in Pembrokeshire, 4 in Brecknock, 2 in
Glamorgan, i in Cardigan, 6 in Carmarthen, and only
i in North Wales. In Hampshire there is i, and this is
interesting as showing the extent of the Irish military
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