handbook of the origin of place-names in wales and monmouthshire

hands into their pockets to pay a certain farmer before crossing the bridge. English name — Coinbridge.Ponkey.— A corruption of Poncyn, a small hillock or it may be a contraction of the plural ponciau. Englishname— Littlebank.Pantygroes. — Pant, small dingle; y, the; croes aid that the form of a cross w; certain spot in theneighbourhood :named by Cromwell's soldiers, from which the place was called Pantygroes. English name-Dingle Cross.Penrhydhen. — nhyd, ford; onen, the ash tree. Our writer thinks it is a corruption of Rhyd Hen, the ash ford;but this is rather far-fetched. Hewers of woe in olden times might have conveyed the ash trees over the ford,near which a bridge now stands. English name— Ashford.Rhosllanerchrugog. — Rhos, meadow; llanerch, glade; crugog, abounding with tumps. English name —Gladeham.Rhosymedre. — A compound of Rhos amdyn, the, a corruption of mhen-pen, and dre-trt, a dwelling-place,signifying a meadow at the end of the town. Some say that medre is a mutation of mydreu, measures orcircles. The former derivation is supported by the geographical position of the village. English name —Townsend.Rosset. — A corruption of rhosydd, the plural of rhos. English name— Meadows.Ruabon. — An Anglicized form of Rhiw Mabon. Rhiw, slope, ascending path; Mabon, the name of a Welshsaint who lived here and founded a church about the time of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth. Some think the place tookits name from its physical aspect, being situate on a rhiw, a slope, near a streamlet called Afon; henceRhiwafon. The former is the more popular view. English name — Boyhill.Ruthin. — This name is variously derived. Some say that a woman named Ruth once kept a large inn nearthe (then) village, and, when the place began to develop into a town, the people began to call it Ruth Inn Redis the prevailing colour of the soil in the district. The principal parts of the town are situated on red sands orashes; hence the name was taken from the ruddy hue of the soil. Rhuth-rhudd, ruddy, crimson, red; in, anabbreviation of din; signifying a ruddy town. English name — Redtown.Rhufoniog. — This place was given to Rhufawn, son of Cunedda Wledig, for the gallantry shown by him indriving the Picts from North Wales; hence the name. English name — Redham.St. Asaph. — The Welsh name is Llanelwy, from its situation on the banks of the river Elwy. The Englishname was bestowed upon it in honour of St. Asaph, who became the second bishop of the see in 560, diedin 596, and was interred in his own cathedral. The township in which it stands is called Bryn Paulin, in honourof Paulinus, a Roman general, who made the hill a place of encampment on his way to Mona.Trefnant. — A compound of tref, place, a town, and nant, brook. English name — Brookton.Trefor. — Tref a town; for-fawr, great; in contradistinction to trefan, a small hamlet or city. English name —Bigton.Tre'r Ynys. — Ynys Cyrys, to whom is generally dedicated the honour of having been the first to collect theWelsh proverbs. The collection is called " Madwaith hen Gyrys o Ial, '' the good work of old Cyrys of Ial.English name — Cyrystown.Wig Fawr, or Wicwer. — Wig-gwig, a wood or forest; Mair, St. Mary, signifying Mary's wood. There is also awell in the place dedicated to St. Mary. English name — Maryswood.Wrexham. — Someone, more wittily than correctly, said that Gwrecsam means Gwraig Sam, Sam's wife." Such short-lived wits do wither as they grow."The most ancient forms of the name are Wrighesham and Wrightelesham. Churchyard, the Elizabethanbard, described it as " trim Wricksam town, a pearl in Denbighshire." The name, we think, is a compound ofrex, king, and ham, signifying the king's hamlet. A few Latin words were introduced into the speech of theOrigin of Place-names in Wales & Monmouthshire Page 50