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Ireland and the Making
of Britain
are still called after the Irishmen who formerly occupied
them, as in the case of Holyhead, of which the Welsh
appellation is Cerrig y Gwyddell, meaning "Rocks
of the Gaels." "Irish Road" was the name applied
to Watling Street, the Roman highway running
from Richborough in Kent to Holyhead. The Irish,
wherever they settled in Britain, built for their families
circular raths and forts. Many remain, particularly in
Anglesea, and are called Cyttie r'Gwyddelod, or the
"Dwellings of Irishmen."
The present spoken Welsh language contains a number
of Irish words, relics of the former Irish domination, as
the numerous Latin words in Welsh speak of the still
Investigation has likewise revealed
that early Welsh legends originated in Ireland.
Thus the story of the flooding which caused the Lake of
earlier Roman conquest. 1
Glasfrya Uchaf is modeled on the more celebrated Irish
account of the forming of Lough Neagh. 2
2. WALES LESS ENDURINGLY IRISH THAN SCOTLAND
We cannot quite tell at what period the Irish hold over
Wales ceased. At the beginning of the seventh century
the Saxon Chronicle tells us that Irish in Britain con-
of the West Saxon. The
tended with Ceolwulf, king
passing of Irish rule must have been gradual,
and there
are evidences of it even in the eighth century. An Irish
bishop of Britain, Sedulius, signed
the decree of the
Roman council of 721, where he is put down as "Epis-
copus Britanniae de genere Scotus." "Fergustus episco-
1 Rhys. Revue Celtique, XVII, 102.
2 The earlier portion of the Annales Cambriae (444-954 A. D.) seems to be
derived from an Irish chronicle used also by Tigernach and the compiler of
the Annals of Ulster. During its first century it contains hardly anything 1
relating to Britain. Its first reference to English history is in relation to
the mission of St. Augustine.
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