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

and gwy, water. Treiddiod troth tnaen — let it burst through the rock. Trwydded means a passage through.This river-name implies a violent or furious water. Or it may be a contraction of tre-wy, the town by the water.We adopt the former. English name — Borewater or Passwater.Mounton. — A corruption of the old name of the place, Monckton, the monk's town, probably so called fromthe monks of Chepstow, who for some centuries held the tithes and provided a priest for the church. Englishname — Monkton.Nantyglo. — Nant, brook; y, the; glo, coal; signifying the coal brook, from the fact, it is said, that in this placecoal was first used to make iron, about the middle of the eighteenth century. English name — Coalbrook.Nash. — From the Norse ness or naze, which means a nose or promontory of land. Norse names arefrequently found on places fringing our coasts, such as Stack Rocks, Penyholt Stack, Stockholm Island,Nash, &c. This place is situated on the coast of the Bristol Channel.Newbridge. — A translation of the Welsh name, Pontnewydd.Newcastle. — From the fortress which anciently stood here, surrounded by a moat.Panteg. — Pant, hollow; teg, fair; signifying a beautiful vale, a name quite descriptive of the place. Englishname — Beauvale.Pengam. — It was anciently called Pont-maen-pen-gam, which signifies a bridge built on a bended rock, oron the river Pengam. Pengam means wry-headed. English name — Wryton or Twistton.Penmain. — A compound of pen, head, top ; and maen, a stone, a rock. English name — Topstone.Peterston. — From the dedication of the church to St. Peter.Ponthir. — Pont, bridge; hir, long; from a long bridge built over the river Llwyd about ninety years ago. Whenthe Tin Works were first erected here, that is, prior to the erection of the bridge, the place was called GwaithNewydd, New Works, but within the past sixty years Gwaith Newydd has given place to Ponthir. Englishname — Longbridge.Pontllanfraith. — Pont, bridge; llan, church fraith, a mutation, perhaps, of ffridd, a forest, a plantation. Orperhaps the church was dedicated to St. Ffraid or St. Faith. English name — Brideschurch.Pontnewynydd. — Some say this is a contraction of Pont-y-naw-mynydd, the bridge from which ninemountains are visible, but we cannot find so many mountains to support this derivation. It is more probably,says the Rev. J. Williams, Pontypool, derived from pont-dewinydd, the bridge of the divine. Dewinydd is theold Welsh form of duwinydd, divine, theologian. The bridge is supposed to have been built by a parson, adivine, called Sir Dafydd, vicar of Trevethin, in the reign of James or Charles I. Close to the bridge there areremains of his residence, whilst the narrow meadow, adjoining, is called Waun Sir Dafydd, Sir David'smeadow. English name— Priestbridge.Pontrhydyrun. — A compound of pont, bridge; rhyd, ford; yr, the; ynn, ash tree; signifying the bridge acrossthe ash-tree ford. English name— Ashford Bridge.Pontrilas. — The name probably means the bridge of the three rivers. Lais is an old British word, standingfor water, or stream, and here we have three rivers meeting, and just below the confluence a bridge is thrownacross; hence Pont-tri-lais. Some say it is the Pont-tri-llais, the bridge of the three murmuring streams.Others think it is a clipped form of Pont-rhyd- Dulas, the bridge on the ford of Dulas. English name —Bridgewater.Pontymistr. — A corruption of Pont-y-minster, the cloister or abbey bridge. Minster is the Anglo-Saxon formof the Latin monasttrium, and is a frequent component in English and European place-names, as Leominster,Westminster, Monstiers, &c It is supposed that a Conventual church once existed in this neighbourhood.English name — Abbey Bridge.Pontymoil. — A compound of pont, bridge; and moel, a conical hill. The place lies at the foot of a hill calledMoel. English name — Bridgehill.Origin of Place-names in Wales & Monmouthshire Page 80